Telecommunications giant, MTN Nigeria is set to list its shares in the Nigerian capital market, with Citi bank and Stanbic IBTC standing as the issuers for the Initial Public Offer, IPO.
“Going public and the decision made by MTN to list its shares will be a major milestone in the market, considering the various efforts being made by both the SEC and Capital Market Masterplan Implementation Council (CAMMIC) to encourage major companies operating in the country to list their shares at the Exchange,” a Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, source said.
According to the official, “listing of the MTN shares will be beneficial to the company, our market and the economy because it will facilitate transparency in transactions of its shares and provide liquidity or ready marketability of the shares on the trading floor of the Exchange”.
He added that “our market capitalisation will increase and there will be timely disclosure of corporate information.”
As part of efforts to make the public listing of the shares a success, the CEO of MTN, Mr. Ferdi Moolman, was quoted to have said that they were “in SEC to seek its understanding and cooperation on some of the unique features that the proposed IPO will be coming to the market with.”
The features include, combining retail offering with book building, electronic subscriptions, payments through the use of mobile phones and green shoe method of stabilising stock prices post listing, The Nation reports.
SEC, through its Director-General Munir Gwarzo has pledged its support for MTN on its planned fund raising through the capital market.
