The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has said it is at the final stage of getting listed in the capital market, in keeping with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
Olufemi Soneye, the chief corporate communications officer of NNPC Ltd, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday.
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Mr Soneye said the company’s Chief Finance and Investor Relations Officer (CFIO), Olugbenga Oluwaniyi, disclosed this at a consultative meeting with partners at the NNPC Towers in Abuja on Thursday.
“The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) is at the final stage of getting listed in the capital market, in keeping with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021,” the statement said.
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According to the statement, Mr Oluwaniyi said the NNPC Ltd was currently engaging with prospective partners in an exercise tagged “NNPC Ltd IPO Beauty Parade” in line with capital market regulations before the commencement of the Initial Public Offer (IPO).
He said the aim of the IPO beauty parade is to assess potential partners and determine in what ways they could be of support to the company.
Mr Oluwaniyi listed the areas of partnership required to include investor relations, IPO readiness advisers, and investment bank partners.
He noted that the company with the best offer in terms of project partnership would be selected for each of the three categories.
“The PIA provides for NNPC Ltd to list its shares in the capital market in line with the provisions of the Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 1990,” the statement said.
An IPO is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to investors.
In July 2022, former President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the new Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, a landmark event that officially changed the oil firm from a wholly state-run entity to a commercial oil company, limited by shares.
The legal transition, based on the PIA, took effect 1 July. The NNPC completed its incorporation in September 2021 weeks after the PIA was signed into law by Mr Buhari.
The new entity became a commercially oriented and profit-driven national petroleum company independent of the government, although government bodies remain its shareholders. It will be audited annually.
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In February 2023, the company officially took over the assets of the nation’s oil company after 46 years of its operations as a corporation.
The company took over after attaining legal requirements within the stipulated 18 months in line with section 54 (3) of the PIA 2021 and the corporation transitioned into a company whose operations will be regulated by the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA).
