Rob Shuter, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Group, has confirmed that the telco will list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in the first half of this year.
Shuter who made this known during the MTN Group’s investor update conference call said the telco has decided to pursue the listing by means of a listing by introduction, which is phase one of the planned Initial Public Offering (IPO).
According to Shuter, after phase one, which would be completed by the first half of 2019, 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. 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.” – Shuter
What should be expected in MTN’s phase 2 listing
MTN will, in phase 2, be doing a project to increase the Nigerian participation in MTN Nigeria, targeting more free float of around 35 per cent than the mandatory free float of 20 per cent for the main board.
MTN aims to conclude at least the listing by introduction in the first half of 2019, pretty much as soon as it can, and then subject to market conditions, the telco would in phase two do the sell-down.
Understanding listing by introduction
Listing by introduction is a way of listing shares already in issue on another exchange. No marketing arrangement is required as the shares for which listing is sought are already widely held. The listing approval procedures for a new listing by introduction are the same as those for IPO.
The company’s shares are listed without a prior IPO. The company would usually have raised capital prior to applying to list, and also must meet the listing requirements – including a minimum number of public shareholders (300 to list on the Main Board; 51 to list on the ASeM) and minimum public float (20% for the Main Board; 15% for ASeM).
Explaining how listing by introduction works, Chief Executive Officer, Enterprise Stockbrokers, Rotimi Fakayejo said,
“They may likely be mandated to sell on the first day of listing and then they can start selling gradually to interested investors. They might now decide to do offer for sale, which is selling from existing shareholders to the public; they may be able to achieve the required float in the market in order for them to accelerate the process of getting listed.”