MTN Appoints More Banks for its Nigerian Unit IPO

With plans ongoing to start an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in July, MTN has appointed more banks for its sale of shares on the Stock Exchange in Lagos.

https://twitter.com/AllTheNewsNG/status/988288263290015744

According to The Guardian, the telecoms company has selected brokers which include Nigerian firm, Chapel Hill Denham as lead manager and Renaissance Capital, FirstRand’s Rand Merchant Bank and Vetiva Capital working as joint advisers.

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Also, the teleco is working with Stanbic IBTC Capital, Standard Bank of South Africa, Standard Advisory London and Citigroup Global Markets, as joint advisors and global coordinators, with Stanbic acting as lead issuer.

It also reports that the company met its bankers and analysts in Lagos over the weekend to help them understand its business and operations, ahead of the forthcoming listing.

Last year, it was the issuer of the largest rights issue in recent history, Lafarge Africa. It also handled the rights issue for Union Bank and the FGN Sovereign Green Bond. MTN’s IPO listing is said to be targeted at raising $400 million this year and is scheduled for July 2018.

— Ugodre (@ugodre) April 22, 2018

Although yet to decide on which portion of the subsidiary to sell, the listing is  expected to raise about $400 million from the IPO to pay its huge pile of debt as well as its preference shareholders. MTN had planned to list its Nigerian unit in 2017, as part of a settlement with the Nigerian Government over unregistered SIM cards for which it was fined $1.7 billion.

However, MTN Group, Chief Executive Officer, Rob Shuter disclosed that progress is being made with the Nigerian listing and should market conditions be okay, it could be concluded by the end of this year.

Related Post: MTN Nigeria Delays $550m Listing on NSE, Subject to Improved Market Conditions

With anticipation over the years, it is expected that the firms’s listing which is long overdue, is a good development for the market as it would help deepen the market once the listing takes place.