MTN Nigeria Shares To Get Listed On NSE By First Half Of 2019

MTN Nigeria has announced it will get listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange by means of a listing by introduction by the first half of 2019. The announcement was made by Mr. Rob Shuter, the President and Chief Executive Officer of MTN Group, at the MTN Group’s investor update conference call.

“We have decided though to pursue the listing by means of a listing by introduction,” Mr. Shuter said, reported The Punch. “It is phase one.”

He said the move would enable MTN to get listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange easily. The shares would be open to Nigerian investors as part of the second phase of the listing.

“It means that we will list the company in the initial phases without any public offer or sell-down or initial public offering,” Shuter said. “I think this will enable us to get the company listed whilst the market still digests the implications of what has happened over the last few months.”

According to Mr. Shuter, in phase two, the mobile phone operator company will undertake a project to increase the Nigerian participation in MTN Nigeria in a bid to increase the free float in the Nigerian market to about 35 percent, which is currently around 20 percent.

“We aim to conclude at least the listing by  introduction in the first half of 2019, pretty much as soon as we can, and then subject to market conditions, appetite and demand we would in phase two do the sell-down,” the MTN Group President said.

It is expected that listing by introduction would enable MTN to determine the fair value of its stocks before the IPO.

Earlier this week, the telecoms giant announced that it expected to see a 20 percent improvement in earnings per share in its 2018 financial performance compared with 2017.