Activities on the Ghanaian Stock Exchange (GSE) may witness as an uptick soon as MTN Ghana shares began trading on the bourse yesterday. The firm is the first telco to be listed. It also broke records as the largest Initial Public Offer on the exchange, and the first which investors subscribed for using mobile money.
Listing on the GSE was part of the conditions the company agreed to in 2015 when it obtained a 4G license.
Details of the offer
A total of 128,152 investors participated, comprising 127,653 retail investors and 499 institutional investors.
1.1 billion cedis was raised, much lower than anticipated but nearly three times larger than the 326 million cedis Agricultural Development Bank Limited (the biggest IPO on the GSE prior to MTN) raised in December 2016.
Uncertainty surrounds Nigerian listing
While operators in the Ghanaian market are in a swell mood, the company’s recent troubles in Nigeria could lead to a delay of a planned Initial Public Offer (IPO) on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
The company was this week slammed with a $2 billion back taxes by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami.
Prior to that, it had been ordered to return $8.1 billion that it had repatriated over the last ten years. The company has, however, restated its commitment to operating in Nigeria.
MTN Nigeria was fined $5.2 billion in 2015 by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for failing to disconnect unregistered subscribers after the stipulated deadline date.
After diplomatic intervention by the then South African President, Jacob Zuma, the fine was reduced to $1 billion, payable in tranches. In addition, MTN was required to list on the NSE and tender an apology to the Nigerian Government.
