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Nigeria\u2019s biggest mobile-phone company, MTN, plans to raise about $500 million from the sale of shares during the first half of the year.<\/p>\n
The move is to enable the company in fulfilling the terms of a deal struck with the Nigeria to settle a record fine imposed on it in 2016 over SIM registration default.<\/p>\n
Standard Bank Group Ltd. and Citigroup Inc. have been advising Africa\u2019s largest company on the disposal of as much as 30 per cent of unit on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.<\/p>\n
The details of the transaction have not been made public.<\/p>\n
According to Bloomberg, most of the shares will be sold to local institutions and individuals, though foreign investors could be brought in to ensure the process is a success, one of the people said.<\/p>\n
Discussions are ongoing and a final decision hasn\u2019t been made, they said.<\/p>\n
Spokespeople for MTN and Citigroup in Johannesburg didn\u2019t comment.<\/p>\n
Standard Bank didn\u2019t immediately respond to calls seeking comment.<\/p>\n
MTN agreed to list the Nigerian unit as part of a June 2016 agreement to pay a $1 billion fine for missing a deadline to disconnect unregistered subscribers amid a security crackdown.<\/p>\n
The penalty, originally set at $5.2 billion, led to the resignation of the Johannesburg-based company\u2019s then chief executive officer, a first ever full-year loss and a slump in the share price that\u2019s yet to be clawed back.<\/p>\n
The stock extended gains on Wednesday, and traded 4.5 percent higher at 128.83 rand as of the close in Johannesburg, giving a market value of 243 billion rand ($20 billion).<\/p>\n
If successful, the Lagos share sale will be the biggest on the Nigerian Stock Exchange after Starcomms Plc, which raised $796 million when it listed in 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.<\/p>\n
MTN with over 50 million subscribers as of end September, slumped to a loss in 2016 as it absorbed the financial impact of the fine, though said last month it returned to profit the following year.<\/p>\n
Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African governments are trying to gain more from international mobile-phone operators taking advantage of rising smartphone use and faster data speeds.<\/p>\n
Bloomberg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nigeria\u2019s biggest mobile-phone company, MTN, plans to raise about $500 million from the sale of shares during the first half of the year. The move is to enable the company in fulfilling the terms of a deal struck with the Nigeria to settle a record fine imposed on it in 2016 over SIM registration default. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,66],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n