Airtel Nigeria Fails to Raise Minimum Number of Shareholders for Listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange

Airtel Nigeria was unable to meet the minimum pre-listing requirement for it to be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. With its total institutional and high net worth investors at 130 shareholders, it fell short of the required minimum of 300.

Earlier in June, the telecommunications company had applied to the Securities and Exchange Commission to list its shares following the listing of MTN’s shares on the Nigerian Bourse in May. However, with the inability of Airtel Nigeria to raise sufficient investors, NSE granted the company a waiver to meet the required number once its shares are officially listed on the Nigerian bourse.

Airtel Nigeria disclosed July 4 in a pre-listing media interactive session at the Nigerian Stock Exchange that it would be pricing its Initial Public Offering at N363 per share on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and 80 pence per share on the London Stock Exchange. The telecom heavyweight stated that it was listing a total of 39, 227,968 ordinary shares in preparation for the main listing session on the NSE today.

On completion of the offer, the telecommunication company estimated its market capitalisation to be N1.4tn or $3.9bn or £3.1bn. Its shares will be made available to only high net worth investors with at least $3 million in investable assets.