Tullett Prebon Enters Nigeria With Parthian Partners Venture

Tullett Prebon Plc, a London-based inter-dealer broker, started a joint-venture with Nigeria’s Parthian Partners Ltd., to expand in Africa’s largest economy.

“This is a crucial deal for us and is central to our growth plans for sub-Saharan Africa,” Rob Osborne, managing director of rates for Europe, Middle East and Africa for Tullett Prebon, said in an e-mailed statement. “Nigerian capital markets are undergoing a major transformation.”

Parthian, based in the commercial capital of Lagos, is one of two licensed inter-dealer brokers in Nigeria and the only firm with a physical presence, according to the statement. The venture, Tullett Prebon’s second expansion in Africa after starting an office in Johannesburg last year, will give the companies access to each other’s clients and seek to boost liquidity in naira-denominated bonds and Treasury bills, Tullett Prebon said.

Nigeria’s Financial Market Dealers Quotations, or FMDQ, which regulates over-the-counter trading, in May agreed with dealing members that trades would only be executed by licensed brokers. Inter-dealer brokers such as Tullett, which has 23 global offices, and London-based ICAP Plc act as a go-between for banks that trade bonds, stocks, currencies, energy and derivatives, profiting when prices fluctuate.

The partnership will give dealing members “access to a broader distribution network, while positioning the now regulated Nigerian OTC market for impressive growth,” Kaodi Ugoji, head of regulation at the FMDQ, said in the statement. Source: Bloomberg