Telecommunications Company MTN Group Limited is set to sell 30 percent of its shares in its Nigerian operations to raise $500 million during the first half of the year in order to pay the fine levied against it.
“Discussions are on going and a final decision hasn’t been made .”said Standard Bank Group Ltd and Citigroup Inc who are acting as advisers to the company as to the best manner to sell their shares which are Lagos based units on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
It was gathered that majority of the shares would be offered for sale to indigenous companies and individuals. Foreign investors where necessary could be considered as well.
MTN conceded to list the Nigerian Unit as part of a 2016 settlement agreement in which the company was to pay $1 billion due to the company failing to disconnect unregistered sim card users before the deadline date.
The fine was originally estimated to be $5.2 billion, a figure which caused the company’s CEO to quit his position and a experiencing a dip in the share price that has not been recovered from.
there is no doubt that if the Lagos Share sale is conducted it will be the largest transaction on the Nigerian Stock Exchange after starcomms Plc which raised $796 million when it was listed in 2008.
MTN non the less remains Nigeria’s biggest telecommunications company with more than 50 million subscribers towards the end of September before it dipped in loss in 2016 due to the fine imposed. The Company has however posted profit in 2017.