MTN Nigeria could be valued at N1.8 trillion Naira or around $5.1bn when it finally lists on the Lagos stock exchange next week according to Bloomberg.
That would it the second-biggest public firm in Africa’s main oil producer after Dangote Cement Plc but will become the largest when measured by revenue.
MTN Nigeria registered 20.35 billion ordinary shares with Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission this week and plans to list around 20 percent of those on the bourse. The shares could trade at 80 naira to 90 naira each, said one of the people.
Traders said Friday they expect Africa’s biggest mobile-phone company to go ahead with the placing on May 16, almost three years after agreeing to the move as part of a deal with local regulators.
The move could be further delayed as some steps required by the Nigerian Stock Exchange still have to be completed, they said.
“We don’t have a specific date, we are looking at some time before the end of this quarter,” Tobechukwu Okigbo, MTN Nigeria’s head of corporate relations, said by phone.
MTN agreed to an initial public offering of its Nigeria business as part of the settlement of a reduced $1 billion fine in the country in 2016.
The listing planned for next week is the first of two stages, with a selldown of MTN’s majority stake to take place at a later date.
The carrier appointed former Nigerian central bank Governor Lamido Sanusi, who’s now the Emir of Kano, to its board last week in preparation for the listing.
MTN remains locked in a legal battle with Nigeria’s Attorney General over a $2 billion tax claim, the latest in a series of disputes in the country.
The Nigeria unit is the largest of MTN’s 20-market portfolio, accounting for almost a quarter of its 233 million subscribers.
Bloomberg
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