MTN is targeting to raise about N330 billion ($1 billion) in an Initial Public Offering (IPO). This is said to be a condition tied to the settlement of a fine imposed on the company by government.
According to Bloomberg report monitored by Business247 News Online, minority shareholders may sell down their holdings or exit entirely, while MTN may offer a small portion of its stake in the business, the agency report quoted an unnamed source.
The Johannesburg-based company is still fine-tuning the offer and no final decision has been made on the amount, the people said.
The IPO is part of a deal struck with the Nigerian government to pay a 330 billion naira ($1 billion) penalty for missing a deadline to disconnect unregistered subscribers.
The negotiations over the fine, which was said to have contributed to a 38 per cent decline in MTN’s share price since it became public in October, cost R1.3bn in professional-service fees, according to the company.
Nigeria is MTN’s biggest money spinner, accounting for more than a third of its sales and profit for a company that has a market value on the Johannesburg bourse of R220bn ($15 billion).
Nigeria’s economic slump deepened in the second quarter as a declining oil industry weighed on output, with gross domestic product in Africa’s most populous country contracting by 2.1% from a year earlier, after shrinking 0.4% in the first quarter.
MTN said in July that it hired Citigroup and Standard Bank Group as advisers on the transaction.
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