Nigeria names advisers for January start to $1 bln Eurobond sale

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LAGOS, Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) 7 (Reuters) - Nigeria has appointed Citigroup (Swiss: C-USD.SW - news) , Standard Chartered Bank and Stanbic IBTC Bank to manage a planned $1 billion Eurobond sale and hopes to start the issuance process in January, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said on Wednesday.

Citi, Standard Chartered Bank and Stanbic IBTC would manage any follow-up Eurobond issuance for Nigeria over the next three years so as to cut short the tendering process, Adeosun said.

President Muhammadu Buhari's cabinet approved the appointment after Adeosun's presentation. They also appointed legal advisers for the issue.

The government began the process of appointing banks for the Eurobond sale in September and had said it wanted to issue the bond by the end of the year. Adeosun said a "fully competitive open tender process" was carried out before the appointments.

"The $1 billion Eurobond programme is part of funding for 2016 budget and we hope to be able to commence the process in January," Adeosun told reporters.

Nigeria is in its first recession in 25 years and needs to find money to make up for shortfall in its budget. Its revenues from oil have plunged due to low global prices and militant attacks in its crude-producing heartland, the Niger Delta.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo told Reuters last week that the government aimed to conclude the sale of the Eurobond by the end of the first quarter of 2017.

"We are expecting to get quite a competitive pricing on the issuance programme ... to be used for the purpose of funding capital projects in the 2016 budget within the month of January," she said, noting that recent gains in the oil price would help with the marketing of the bond. (Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Alexis Akwagyiram and Louise Ireland)