By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday eventually admitted a total of 3.758 billion shares of Airtel Africa on its main board after the exercise was cancelled last Friday.
CEO of the NSE, Mr Oscar Onyema, who spoke at the listing of the telecommunications firm today, commended the company for taking the bold step be part of the stock exchange.
According to him, “Listing on the exchange reaffirms Airtel Africa’s long-term commitment to expanding opportunities and providing everyday services to Africans and Nigerians in particular.
“It also indicates the firm’s belief that our platform, which has a total market capitalization of N25.20 trillion across various asset classes, remains a veritable avenue for raising capital and enabling sustainable national growth.
“This listing serves to deepen the telecoms and technology sector for investors and provides an opportunity for a wider group of Nigerians to be part of the African telecoms growth story.”
Mr Onyema further said, “Today’s listing is a promising development in Africa with Airtel Africa being the second company to have its ordinary shares listed on both the London Stock Exchange and The Nigerian Stock Exchange.
“This gives credence to the successful partnership between the two exchanges. I encourage similarly situated companies to explore the different opportunities for raising capital on the Exchange’s platform.”
Business Post reports that the cross border secondary listing of 3,758,151,504 ordinary shares of Airtel Africa today were done at an offer price of N363 each. The firm fortified the market capitalisation by N1.36 trillion, further deepening the Nigerian capital market.
The exercise is expected to also increase the visibility of Airtel Africa to investors on the continent and across the globe.
Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, is the holding company of Airtel Networks Limited (Airtel Nigeria) and 13 other subsidiaries in Africa, which are Airtel Congo S.A., Airtel Gabon S.A., Celtel Niger S.A., Airtel Congo RDC S.A. (DRC). Airtel Tanzania Plc, Airtel Networks Zambia Plc, Airtel Networks Kenya Limited, Airtel Tchad S.A., Airtel Madagascar S.A, Airtel Malawi Limited, Airtel Rwanda Limited, Airtel Uganda Limited and Airtel (Seychelles) Limited.
