A multifaceted environmental utility conglomerate, Visionscape, has allayed the fears of investors over the default of the Lagos State government in paying the Green Note.
The state government had launched the N50 billion green bond for waste management in August 2017, but it missed the payment of the Green Note due for Tuesday, March 5.
The fixed income note, a subcategory of the larger N50 billion medium-term Note, is used to finance the Cleaner Lagos project of the government.
The top-rated instrument, which attracted a credit rating of A+ by both Agusto Credit Agency and Global Credit Rating Agency (GCR, formerly Duff and Phelps), missed its coupon and principal payment.
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The Note, with a four-and-a-half years tenor, was meant to pay both coupon and principal to investors in the first week of March 2019, but the poor state of the Note’s sinking fund and the slow response of the state’s treasury to the payment of the fixed income obligation had raised anxiety among the Note’s investors.
However, while addressing the anxiety concerning the payment, Visionscape, contracted to handle waste management in the state, on Thursday, said the issue would be “resolved in due course.”
The company, in a statement by its spokesman, Efe Obaigbena, a copy of which was made available to Tribune Online, said: “Lagos State is a beacon of fiscal responsibility with an exemplary track record of fulfilling its obligations.
“We continue to actively engage all stakeholders to address the issues at hand and we are confident that all will be resolved in due course.”