Finally! MTN Wants to Get Listed on NSE and Sell its Shares to Nigerians

MTN Nigeria, the Nigerian unit of the MTN Group, is planning to get listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) according to Reuters. At a two-day board meeting which began yesterday, it was agreed that the Initial Public Offering (IPO) should done this year.

Yet this decision to get listed is not completely surprising. It is part of the agreement it reached with regulatory bodies.

MTN Stock Listing Part Of NCC Deal

In 2016, the company was fined N1.04 trillion ($5.2 billion) by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), after it failed to deactivate unregistered sim cards. Unregistered sim cards are used to facilitate criminal activities. Most importantly, allowing their continued use stupefies the whole essence of sim registrations in the first place.

An agreement was reached in which the fine was reduced from N1.04 trillion to N330 billion. Listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange was a key part of that agreement.

MTN Nigeria had previously planned the IPO in 2017, but was halted due to market conditions. It is now reactivating those plans.

Reuters reports that MTN is considering hiring a public relations company to handle communications ahead of the IPO.

MTN will be working with a few companies for the listing. It has appointed Stanbic IBTC Capital, Standard Bank of South Africa, Standard Advisory London, and Citigroup Global Markets, as joint transaction advisors and global coordinators. Stanbic would however act as the lead underwriter.

MTN is the biggest telecom company in Africa. Its Nigerian arm, MTN Nigeria, is the largest telco in the country with about 51.4 million subscribers. Its operations in Nigeria accounts for a third of MTN’s revenue.