Chinwendu Obienyi
The Securities and Exchange Commission, (SEC), can confirmed that an application by MTN Nigeria to register its existing securities has been approved.
According to Acting Director General of SEC, Mary Uduk, “MTN sought to come to the market by way of an introduction and wrote to the SEC last week requesting for approval to register its existing shares. That approval has now been granted”.
The SEC received the application from the company last week to register its existing securities after the telecom giants filed an application for public listing with the regulatory authorities.
The company applied for registration of shares and a listing on the NSE with SEC confirming in a statement on Monday, that it has received an application from the operator. The statement read in part, “The Securities and Exchange Commission can confirm that we are in receipt of an application from MTN requesting registration of their existing securities. “They have applied for listing by introduction, which will enable the company to be listed and allow shareholders to sell their shares on the floor of the Exchange.” It added that the application was already receiving attention.
MTN had earlier converted its Nigerian unit into a public company from a private one before the planned listing on the Exchange. It said the conversion was a legal requirement to prepare for the listing, adding that it was engaging with SEC and the NSE on the project.
Investors had waited the telecom firm to list on the nation’s bourse by way of introduction since last year but that never happened until now when the announcement was made.
The President and Chief Executive Officer of MTN Group, Rob Shuter, had disclosed the move would enable the company to get listed easily, adding that findings showed that the free float in the Nigerian market would be about 35 per cent.
Transcript of the teleconference call revealed that after the phase one, which would be completed by the first half of 2019, the shares would be open to Nigerian investors as part of second phase of the listing.
“It means that we will list the company in the initial phases without any public offer or sell-down or initial public offering. I think this will enable us to get the company listed whilst the market still digests the implications of what has happened over the last few months,” he had said.
SEC boss Mary Uduk said, “This is a further indication of the determination by the SEC to work with companies that are interested in the capital market. We believe that this will also encourage other service providers to come to the market”.