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Guaranty Trust Bank Plc said it has redeemed the outstanding portion of the $500 million Eurobond notes which were due by May 19. In a statement issued over the weekend, GT Bank said the outstanding principal portion of $373,414,000.00 and the coupon value of $14,003,025.00 have been redeemed using the bank’s available cash reserves.

Four months ahead of the debt’s maturity, GT Bank had in February 2016 invited holders of its $500 million Eurobond – with a yield of 7.5 percent – to tender their securities for redemption.

The address investors’ concerns about the ability of the bank to redeem its Eurobond due to the prevailing foreign currency shortages in Nigeria, GT Bank said it would utilize its available dollar liquidity to repurchase the securities ahead of the scheduled maturity in May.

“Despite a difficult operating environment that characterised most part of the year, especially when viewed against the backdrop of short dollar supply, the bank continued the implementation of its effective liability management strategy with the successful completion of its any and all cash tender offer in February 2016 and subsequently, the redemption of the outstanding portion of the $500,000,000.00 Eurobond Notes,” said Segun Agbaje, GT Bank's Managing Director/CEO.

The $500 million Eurobond was launched in May 2011. The 5-year Benchmark Eurobond offer was considered the largest offer by any Nigerian corporate to international investors.

GT Bank's Managing Director said over the past five years, the bank has continued to leverage its deep understanding of complex business scenarios to undertake large ticket transactions in financial advisory, structured and project finance, balance sheet restructuring, debt and equity transactions.

GT Bank reported N99.4 billion in after-tax profit in its full-year 2015, a 5.4 percent rise from N94.4 billion recorded in 2014. The bank expects a 4 percent growth in profit in 2016. Earlier in March this year, GT Bank's management provided a profit-before-tax guidance of N125 billion for 2016.

The bank's total assets rose 5.2 percent to N2.66 trillion in the first quarter ended March 31, 2016.