MTN Nigeria may sell some 30 percent of its ordinary shares to Nigerian retail investors under its initial public offering (IPO), CommunicationsWeek reported, citing company sources. According to the daily, MTN Nigeria could sell as much as 30 percent to the investing public, to ensure a substantial number of its shares is freely available.
The company plans to raise between USD 400 million and USD 500 million through an IPO scheduled for the second half of 2018. In 2016, it appointed the advisory team and set out a timetable for listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in 2017. It appointed Stanbic IBTC Capital and its affiliates Standard Bank of South Africa and Standard Advisory London and Citigroup Global Markets, as the joint transaction advisors and joint global coordinators. It missed the 2017 target, though.
Sources said MTN Nigeria plans to have a free float of some 30 percent, significantly above the minimum listing requirement at the NSE, which is 5.0 percent.
