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MTN Group has shown commitment to move ahead with plans to list its Nigerian unit, the latest being the recent appointment of Chapel Hill Denham as lead manager for the initial public offering (IPO) in the Lagos bourse later this year.
Other appointed advisers are South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank, Renaissance Capital and Vetiva Capital.
MTN aims to list its Nigerian unit worth $5.23 billion by July and raise funds to cut debt. It plans to raise at least $400million from the IPO to pay preference shareholders and go on a road show between May and June.
MTN Group plans to list on the Premium Board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) which has the likes of Dangote Cement Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and FBN Holdings Plc.
MTN Nigeria has around 402 million shares in issue, the same amount in preference shares, which it sold at $0.99 in 2007.
As part of the IPO it would split one share into 50 units, to create 20 billion shares, which would be listed on the bourse and set the IPO price via book building.
The company would use the proceeds of the share sale to redeem preference shares issued to existing investors who bought the shares 11-years ago and also cut its dollar exposure.
MTN wants to achieve a “retail friendly” offer price for the IPO, it said in a pre-IPO document, of around N80 per share, the average price for shares listed on Nigeria’s bourse, Reuters reported in February.
And it would split its nominal value to 2 kobo from one naira. South Africa’s MTN owns more than 70 percent of MTN Nigeria, which has about 300 existing shareholders.
The company met with local and foreign analysts in Lagos last Friday to help them understand its business and operations, ahead of the forthcoming listing.
The Group Chief Executive Rob Shuter said last week that IPO plans were well advanced and the company would provide exact terms in the next few months.
The telecoms firm 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.
MTN Group hopes to get all necessary approvals for the listing including that of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
MTN Group agreed to list the Nigerian unit as part of a June 2016 agreement to pay a $1.7 billion fine for missing a deadline to disconnect unregistered subscribers amid a security crackdown.
Gbenga Oyebode, a renowned lawyer and boardroom guru was recently appointed chairman of the board committee on MTN floatation.
The Nigerian stock market rose by 42 percent last year.
MTN is Nigeria’s biggest mobile-phone company with just over 50 million subscribers as at the end of December.
Iheanyi Nwachukwu
