Communications giant, MTN Group Ltd has finally placed a deadline to its much awaited listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Chief Executive Officer Rob Shuter in an interview with Bloomberg stated that the firm was looking at concluding the process in the next six months.
“We have a lot of advisers running around getting everything ready. It’s a complicated process and there’s a lot of regulation that needs to be arranged. We are moving forward well with the project and anticipate concluding that in the next six months or so.”
Background to the listing
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 South Africa’s 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, .
MTN group was founded in South Africa in 1994 and currently operates in 22 countries. MTN Nigeria was founded in 2001 and currently has over 60 million subscribers making it the largest telecoms operator in the country. The company was recently reported to be one of the firms that expressed interest in taking over 9mobile.
