By Dipo Olowookere
A report by Daily Trust has revealed that MTN Nigeria Limited was yet to file the necessary papers to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its long-awaited Initial Public Offering (IPO) this year.
This debunks several media reports which have suggested that approvals have been obtained and the IPO will eventually happen sometime next month.
Talks about the IPO have dominated business reports throughout the year, with speculations rife about the actual details/entailment.
Earlier report had it that the MTN shares’ listing would happen in June 2018. There have also been conflicting reports about the exact amount the company wants to raise through the IPO, including report that it was hoping to raise about N100 billion.
Last month, an MTN spokesman debunked rumours that the multinational mobile telecommunications company had ever hinted at issuing as much as $500 million-valued shares during the IPO.
The spokesman also said MTN Nigeria Limited has yet to fix a definite date for the IPO, while noting that all information pertaining to that would be made known at the right time.
Meanwhile, MTN Group’s President/CEO, Rob Shuter, has confirmed to Bloomberg that the IPO will happen before the end of the year. He, however, gave no further details about when that will be happening or how much the company hopes to raise.
A source told Daily Trust: “Discussions have progressed fruitfully and we assured them that we will treat their request expressly. So we are waiting”
Meanwhile, MTN Nigeria is proceeding with all the necessary preparations for the IPO. The company may list 20 billion shares after a 1 for 5 share split, after which it will proceed to pick the IPO price through book building.
MTN Nigeria has a current valuation of $5.2 billion, going by its current over the counter price of $13. The nominal value of the shares will also be split from N1 to 2 kobo.
The proceeds from the IPO are expected to be used to redeem preference shares issued to existing investors who bought the shares 11 years ago.
It will also go towards cutting the company’s dollar exposure, and as part of the fulfilment of sanctions slammed on it in 2015 by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
