MTN Nigeria Chairman & CEO being presented with the official plaque today at the Official listing of the telecommunication giant in Lagos.
MTN Communications Plc has finally listed its Nigeria unit on the premium board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The listing was confirmed today at a programme held in Lagos.
Being Africa’s Leading telecom markets operator with 237 million subscribers, MTN boast of the largest market share in 14 countries. The telecommunication giant is also the largest mobile network operator in Nigeria with 20.4 million active data users and 50% market share by revenue.
While receiving the official plague of the listing by the NSE on Thursday, the CEO of MTN Nigeria, Ferdi Moolman noted that the company has 1800 staffs and enjoy connecting lives.
He said 20 million Nigerians today live in places where the MTN network remains the sole provider of communication. And that each month, over 16 million people with no airtime connect with their friends and families using the MTN Borrow Me Credit package.
The CEO, who noted that the company introduce 18,000 Nigerians to the internet daily, added that the company is also supporting financial infrastructure with 50,000 plus ATM & POS for electronic payments.
BRANDPOWER had reported on Wednesday that MTN Nigeria will be listed today (Thursday) in the industries’ section of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and that the move will value the pan-African wireless carrier’s largest business at N1.8 trillion ($5 billion).
According to business analysts, the MTN Nigeria’s listing is a step toward a partial sell down of the carrier’s majority 79% stake, and was agreed to as part of the settlement of a $1 billion regulatory fine three years ago.
It is on record that MTN Nigeria is the market leader in Africa’s most populous country, with about 60 million customers at the end of last year. The price of MTN Nigeria’s shares, set at 90 naira a share, was determined by referencing private sale transactions by shareholders over the past 180 business days. The true valuation of the business is uncertain due to an ongoing dispute with Nigeria’s Attorney General over a claim for $2 billion in back taxes, MTN has said.
It could be recalled that the telecommunication giant had been under pressure from governments and regulators in some of its 17 African markets to transfer a greater share of its business to local investors. The company held an initial public offering of its Ghana operation last year and is under pressure to prepare something similar in Uganda.
A statement by the company on Wednesday said: “The listing of MTN Nigeria deepens the equity capital markets base of the country, which makes it possible to broaden the shareholding base of MTN Nigeria over time.’’
MTN’s shares rose 0.7% as of 11:37 a.m. in Johannesburg, valuing the company at 187 billion rand ($13 billion).
Samson Oyedeyi
