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Lotus Capital, a full-service, Halal investment management company listed its Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The listing event was commemorated with a Closing Gong ceremony.

The #Nigerian Debt Management Office (DMO) is accessing the local market for N100 billion through Sukuk. The first Nigerian Sukuk is a 7-year tenor debt instrument and will go on sale from June 28, 2017, for three days via book building. It will be traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and the FMDQ Securities Exchange OTC platform. The bond will target retail and institutional investors, while First Bank and Islamic wealth manager Lotus Capital will act as managers for the sale. According to DMO, the introduction of Sukuk is not only a way of raising capital for the government and promotion of greater financial inclusion, it is also part of the plan to fast track infrastructure development. The current manager of DMO, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo will be leaving office at the end of June and the Sukuk issuance is seen as his parting gift.

Following the approval of the Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund offer by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Lotus Capital Limited held the signing ceremony in respect of the Offer on April 14, 2016. The offer has an initial subscription size of N1,000,000,000.00 consisting of 1,000,000 units at N1,000 per unit. The Fund will be launched upon receipt of final approval from SEC. The primary objective of the fund is to generate returns from investments in Shari’ah compliant fixed income securities and contracts, while ensuring capital preservation. A minimum investment of N5,000 is required.

Nigeria-based Lotus Capital Limited recently launched the first sharia compliant exchange traded fund in sub-Saharan Africa – the Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund (“LHE ETF”), with a target of raising about N1.5 billion during the initial offer period. The offer opened August 15, 2014, and closes September 11, 2014. Subscription is at an indicative unit price approximately equal to 1/200th of the value of the NSE-Lotus Islamic Index (“NSE LII”) on the day preceding the subscription. The LHE ETF would be listed and traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and will contribute to overall market capitalisation and the global exchange traded fund universe.

Hajara Adeola, managing director, Lotus Capital Limited, has spoken on the benefits of the forthcoming listing of first Sharia Compliant Equity Exchange Traded Fund, the Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund (LHEETF) on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange via an initial offer for subscription. he TLHE ETF will be very liquid, he said, since its units can be bought and sold any time on the Exchange. More so, investors who hold a minimum of 5,000,000 units of the LHE ETF can exit by exchanging their LHE ETF units for the relevant number of the Fund’s underlying shares. Investors can either subscribe via a cash subscription or via in-kind subscription by the delivery of the stocks of the constituent companies of the NSE- LII in exchange for units of the ETF.

Following the receipt of the Securities and Exchange Commission clearance of the Offer Documents in respect of the proposed initial offer for subscription of 100 million units of the Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Lotus Capital Limited has announced the successful hosting of the signing ceremony in respect of the proposed initial offer. The board of directors of the company and relevant professional parties, including Vetiva Capital Management Limited (issuing house to the offer), were present to execute the offer documents during the signing ceremony. Lotus Capital, upon receipt of final approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission, plans to launch the Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund, an Exchange Traded Fund (“ETF”) based on the NSE Lotus Islamic Index.

The investment management firm Lotus Capital Limited has been honoured as the best in Africa by the Islamic Finance News (IFN). Lotus Capital won the Africa Deal of the Year Award as the lead issuing house for the N11.4 billion Osun state sukuk issue, which was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in September 2013. The issue was oversubscribed by about 20 per cent. The Osun state government, represented by the Honourable Commissioner of Finance, and the Solicitors to the Issue, Kola Awodein and Co, were also award recipients for the deal. Besides, Lotus also developed the country's first Islamic Index on the NSE, known as the “NSE Lotus Islamic Index” or NSE LII. The Index recorded +44.21 per cent in 2012 and +61.84 per cent in 2013.

Chris Agabi reported on 16 January on allAfrica about the discussions held at the Lotus Capital Seminar series. Professor Mohamed L. Bashar, an Islamic finance and economics lecturer and a board member, Lotus Capital Limited has advocated for a defined regulatory framework to support the growth of Islamic finance in Nigeria, while the guest speaker Professor Monzer Kahf, and Chairman of the Sharia Advisory Board of Lotus Capital, noted that legislation may not necessarily be the biggest impediment but political will - legislation for the conventional financial system does not generally affect Islamic finance.