MTN to Sell 90% of 575 million Shares to Retail Investors

By Dipo Olowookere

Retail investors will take up to 90 per cent of the 575 million shares of MTN Nigeria Communications Plc being put up for sale.

This information was contained in the indicative terms of the proposed offer obtained by Business Post on Tuesday night.

Yesterday, the telco announced that it has received the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to go ahead with the exercise, which is expected to wrap up this month.

The firm is offering the ordinary shares held by its parent company, MTN International (Mauritius) Limited to boost liquidity in the market.

The sale is in two parts and it involves the offering of a minimum of 10 per cent to institutional investors through bookbuild and 90 per cent to retail investors at a fixed price.

The bookbuild commenced yesterday and will close this Friday and thereafter, the sale to retail investors will commence, though the exact date is yet to be announced.

This newspaper gathered that for the institutional sale, investors would be required to purchase a minimum of 20 shares and multiples of 20 shares thereafter.

It was disclosed that there is an incentive for the purchase as one free share would be given for every 20 shares purchased and allotted, up to a maximum of 250 shares per investor, though the terms and conditions apply.