Rating Release
Agusto & Co. hereby affirms the ‘Aaa’ rating of Viathan Funding Plc.’s ₦10 billion 10-year Series 1 Senior Guaranteed Fixed Rate Bond Due 2027.
This rating expires 16 December 2019.
The rating assigned is hinged on the strength of the credit enhancement provided by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company Limited (‘InfraCredit’ or ‘the Guarantor’). The Bond is supported by the unconditional and irrevocable guarantee of all principal and coupon payment obligations to bondholders by InfraCredit. The Issue rating reflects the “Aaa” rating assigned to the Guarantor by Agusto & Co. in July 2019.
InfraCredit is a specialised credit guarantee institution sponsored by Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and GuarantCo Management Company Limited (‘GuarantCo’) with the core objective of guaranteeing obligations to enhance the credit quality of long-term infrastructure debt finance instruments issued by corporates and government entities to finance eligible infrastructure projects across Nigeria. In 2018, African Finance Corporation (AFC) joined as a second cornerstone investor, subscribing to the ordinary and preference shares of InfraCredit. The Guarantor has a core capital of $50 million and a callable capital (contingent) of $25 million from GuarantCo. InfraCredit will draw on contingent capital, should qualified core capital dip by 20%. In November 2018, KfW Development Bank provided $35 million subordinated capital investment to enhance the Guarantor’s capital base.
Viathan Funding Plc. (‘Viathan’ or ‘the Issuer’) is a special purpose vehicle incorporated by Viathan Group (‘the Group’) with the sole purpose of providing debt finance to companies (‘Co-Obligors’) within the Group. Viathan owns five operational power generation plants, two electricity distribution companies and one gas plant. Viathan business model is focused on acquiring and building scalable and modular power plants. The Group is one of the leading captive power companies, with a combined generation capacity of 42.53 megawatts, providing electricity to government-owned entities, corporates and residential clusters in Nigeria.
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