The shares of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Plc and the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Plc can now be traded on the NASD Plc’s over-the-counter market.
This followed the admission of both companies and seven others by the NASD OTC for trading.
The NASD said the development had increased the number of tradable securities on its over-the-counter market for unlisted securities to 82.
It explained in a statement that the decision to admit more securities for trading was in line with its objectives to expand transparency around the trading of unlisted securities.
It added that all the new securities on the platform were admitted after they were confirmed eligible to trade on the OTC market by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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In all, nine more companies were admitted to trade – three utilities companies, three financial companies and three consumer goods companies.
They are Afam Power Plc, Arm Properties Plc, Bam Microfinance Bank Plc, Bankers Warehouse Plc and Fan Milk Plc.
Others are Fumman Agric Product Industries Plc, Ibadan Electricity Distribution Plc, Ikeja Electricity Distribution Plc, and Lacasera Company Plc.
“Investors can immediately trade these shares on our platform through any of our participating institutions,” the NASD said.
“Shareholders who wish to trade their shares should approach a participating institution (stockbroker) who can trade on their behalf in an open and transparent market.”
Inaugurated in July 2013, the NASD is an alternative trading platform created by the National Association of Securities Dealers to bring more liquidity to Nigeria’s capital market.
The platform is also a self-regulatory organisation licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission to trade a broad range of instruments over-the-counter, including bonds and securities not listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
At inception, the management of NASD predicted that the OTC market in Nigeria would evolve into the West African financial hub in 10 years with the first three years of this time as a gestation period for steady operations.
It has since gained momentum with billions of naira worth of transactions executed on the platform.
“To date we have done deals worth N3.44bn, having N1.06bn as trades for this year alone,” it said in a statement on Thursday.
The SEC had recently introduced a new rule, which prevents the sale of the shares and securities of unlisted public companies outside SEC-registered securities exchanges.
And the NASD, which had long called for such a rule to be in place to protect investors against exploitation and encourage transparency in the capital market, among other things, explained that it was benefitting from the rule.
It said, “The emergence of the SEC rule on trading in unlisted securities has heightened activities in the OTC Market with more applications from participating institutions and authorised traders being recorded.”
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