After months of delay, MTN Nigeria IPO is finally underway as the telco has officially filed for an IPO. On Tuesday, MTN Nigeria announced the registration of 20,354,513,050 ordinary shares with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The move is precursor to a full listing of the $5 billion business.

“I am excited that we have achieved another milestone in our listing process and we want to thank SEC and the Corporate Affairs Commission for supporting us through the process,” said MTN Nigeria CEO, Ferdi Moolman.

Meanwhile, the SEC confirmed MTN Nigeria IPO filing.

“They have applied for listing by introduction, which will enable the company to be listed and allow shareholders to sell their shares on the floor of the Exchange,” the Nigerian bourse said. 

Originally planned for 2018, MTN has delayed its share listing for quite some time now. However, since April, it has fast tracked the process and just last month, the company converted from being a private company to a PLC. This conversion meant the company could now disclose financial details to potentials investors.

Registration of its shares means the company is on track to list soon. The company says it will meet investors by May 16 to discuss its plans, but it was not immediately clear if that would be an investor roadshow.

Interestingly, MTN announced the move the same day it recorded a huge court victory against a tax fine.

Last September, Nigeria’s Attorney General slammed a huge $2 billion tax fine on MTN for backdated taxes. At the same time, the telco was battling another fine from the Nigerian Central Bank. The CBN accused MTN of illegally repatriating funds to the tune of $8.1 billion and demanded the sum be refunded.

However MTN settled with the CBN, paying a small $53 million penalty. The AGF tax case was summarily taken to court.

But on Tuesday, A Nigerian federal court dismissed the actions of the AGF, thus ending MTN’s legal woes.

MTN announced its share listing volume after the court case was decided.