Chinwendu Obienyi
Reactions have continued to trail MTN’s recent announcement that it plans to raise $500million (about N153billion) in the capital market.
According to a company source,” A lot of preparations are going on due to the listing which is expected to happen this year”
Some see the development as a good strategy for the growth of the capital market, while others are skeptical of what the listing will bring to the market.
In a telephone chat with Daily Sun, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), United Capital, Toyin Sanni, said that MTN’s coming into the market will deepen it and give opportunity to more Nigerians to participate in the firm’s success story, adding that the assumption that the company will delist from the market soon after the listing was premature.
Her words: “We welcome new listings on our market and we have been asking for a while now that all the major operators within the economy should be encouraged to list on the NSE. So a company such as MTN with what they have achieved and significant returns to what they have enjoyed in the market, it is a welcome development because we would have wished this had happened earlier but it is not too late. Their coming into the market will deepen it and give opportunity to Nigerians to participate in the success story of a company like MTN. “To think MTN might go in the way to delist after some time like 7up Bottling Company is really a premature assumption, there is really no reason to make any such assumption”
For his part, President, Nigeria Shareholders Solidarity Association (NSSA), Timothy Adesiyan, said the development if successfully given proper approval and well arranged will benefit Nigerians.
“The fact is that this is a welcome development if they give us a chance to participate in it like buying the shares considering that the regulators have been calling on them to come to the capital market because of the enormous revenue they are making from the Nigerian Market. So this will be to the benefit of Nigerians. However, how our regulators will manage them is another problem, looking at the way 7up Bottling Company was managed, we grew with them with the belief that at old age, we will be able to rely on the income of our investment from them, only for them to back out from the market.”
“So my worry is whether MTN coming out with a concrete plan to transfer technology to Nigerians when they are operating here? Is there training for Nigerians for technical know-how? So the government has to give proper approval and consideration and arrange terms and conditions with which they will operate”, he stressed.
On his part, National Coordinator, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN), Boniface Okezie argued that MTN has not been making profit, adding that the telecoms firm might contemplate delisting after making its money.
“MTN has not been making profit, hence I am not really euphoric about the planned listing, if they want to list, they can but they should not fool us because by 2-5 years, they might contemplate delisting just like what 7up bottling company did. Nigerians has been waiting on the listing, so if they are still interested in listing, they can come and list because they have been exploiting Nigerians and this is the right time for Nigerians to benefit from where they have been spending their money because as at last year, Nigerians spent money on recharging their phones with MTN airtime, so if it is taking huge amount of money, what are we getting from them in return?
He thereafter called on the domestic companies in Nigeria to emulate the foreign companies to ensure the growth of the economy. The telecoms firm had earlier planned to list its Nigerian unit in 2017, but delayed the Initial Public Offer (IPO) due to market conditions.
Speaking to pressmen during the NSE 2016 market recap/2017 market outlook, Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Oscar Onyema had said that the NSE were working closely with the firm to make the IPO a successful one.
The firm is also said to have appointed Stanbic IBTC Capital, Standard Bank of South Africa, Standard Advisory London and Citigroup Global Markets, as joint transaction advisors and global coordinators, with Stanbic acting as lead issuer.
MTN Group is Africa’s leading mobile telephone company, with operations in 24 countries in Africa and the Middle East and over 230 million subscribers and with over 51.4 million subscribers and counting, MTN Nigeria Communications Limited is the largest subsidiary in the MTN Group.
Since its inception in 2001, MTN Nigeria has led the growth in the voice market to become the biggest mobile operator in Nigeria and West Africa. It is now pursuing new growth opportunities in the data and ICT space. This lead position is evident in a differentiated and attractive array of product and service offerings, as well as a growing bouquet of ICT products.