MTN Nigeria has received approval and will proceed to list its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on May 16, 2019. The company entered a settlement in December 2018 paying $53 million to the Government of Nigeria out of $8.1 billion tax demand and the listing is believed to be an extension of this process.
— MTN Nigeria (@MTNNG) May 15, 2019
MTN entered Nigeria in 2001 and it has grown to be a key market for the Group. It accounts for 55 million of their total 210 million subscribers in Africa and the Middle East. 25% of their subscribers are in Nigeria compared to 13% in SA. They get 30% of revenue from Nigeria, compared to 29% from SA, with Nigeria growing in the double digits. MTN which has 79 million data customers and 27 million mobile money customers in 2018, plans to introduce mobile money in South Africa, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Sudan this year.
The Group owns 75.81% of MTN Nigeria through a Mauritius company while Nigerian shareholders own 18.7% through special purpose vehicles. 1.76% is owned by the Public Investment Corporation of South Africa.
With its shares introduced at 90 Naira each, based on recent private share sales, MTN Nigeria is valued at about $5 billion. All shares of the company are being listed and all shareholders will be able to trade their shares. MTN plans to get more Nigerians to increase their stake in the company to about 35% through the listing and a public offer that may follow. Besides Nigeria, the Group also plans to increase local ownership of its operations in Uganda and Zambia during 2019.
Edit February 2022: MTN Group completed the sale of 575 million shares to Nigerian investors – both qualified institutional investors and retail investors. The offer was oversubscribed 1.4x with 126,000 investors applying for 802 million shares. It contained a 15% green shoe option – so 661 million shares were allocated to investors and raised 4.3 billion rand (approx $280 million).