Nigeria’s biggest telecoms provider,
MTN, has met with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to
discuss a possible initial public offering (IPO) of its shares on the
Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and how it wants to structure the share
sale.
According to Reuters, SEC Director
General, Mounir Gwarzo, said MTN had discussed the possibility of
issuing various classes of shares to targeted investor groups. He said
the telecoms firm was looking at three different classes which would be
new in Nigeria.
Gwarzo said the SEC was willing to
support the share sale as long as it was within local laws and advised
the telecoms firm to ensure retail investors were protected.
THISDAY checks further revealed that at
the meeting, MTN also discussed the possibility of getting some
concessions that will speed up the listing.
It was gathered that the joint financial
advisers and issuing houses to MTN on the proposed IPO and listing –
Standard Bank of South Africa Limited, Citigroup Global Markets Limited
and Stanbic IBTC – accompanied the management of the company to the
meeting with SEC.
“I can confirm to you that the
management of the MTN Group and its advisors met with the SEC
management. The main purpose was for them to ask for details of the
procedure to embark on the IPO and the possibility of getting some
concessions to fast-track the offer process.
“The commission is willing to assist the company to achieve its objectives,” a SEC source told THISDAY yesterday.
According to the source, the IPO would
likely come up in the first quarter of 2017, depending on the economic
situation in the country.
The meeting with SEC, notwithstanding,
MTN is yet to formerly submit an application to the regulator for the
IPO and listing of its shares.
MTN is the largest mobile phone operator
in Nigeria with 57 million subscribers, and Nigeria accounts for a
third of its revenue.
Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator
had agreed to list its shares in Nigeria as part of a deal to pay a N330
billion ($1 billion) fine in cash to the Nigerian government for
missing a deadline to disconnect 5.2 million unregistered subscribers.
Preparatory to the listing, MTN last
month announced the appointment of Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited, its
affiliates — The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited and Standard
Advisory London Limited — and Citigroup Global Markets Limited as its
Joint Transaction Advisors and Joint Global Coordinators, with Stanbic
acting as Lead Issuing House.
MTN had said in a statement in July that it was targeting 2017 to list its shares on the NSE.
“MTN Nigeria is pleased to announce that
its Board of Directors has resolved to proceed with preparations for a
listing of MTN Nigeria on the NSE as soon as commercially and legally
possible and has established a management task team with the
responsibility to guide the company towards a listing.
“At present, MTN Nigeria is targeting
that the listing takes place during 2017, subject to suitable market
conditions,” the company had said.
It added that Stanbic IBTC Capital, the
Nigerian arm of Johannesburg-based Standard Bank, would be the lead
issuing house, while a full syndicate including Nigerian parties would
be appointed in due course.
0 comments:
Post a Comment