MTN 575 million shares offer saw 139.5% oversubscription

• As 76% of successful applicants via digital platform are women, 85% are under age 40
  

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The Series 1 offer for sale of MTN shares of 575 million held by MTN Group in Nigeria to Nigerian investors late 2021 has been oversubscribed by 139.47 per cent.

This was disclosed by the telecoms company in a press release file on Tuesday at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).

The disclosure revealed that the MTN shares offer was oversubscribed by 139% with valid applications for a total of 801.97 million units, leading to the activation of the approved 15% over-subscription clause of an additional 86.25 million units of shares.

According to the result, 661.25 million units of MTN Nigeria shares were allotted and a total of 126,720 retail investors submitted valid applications and received the full allotment of the shares.

The offer also created 114, 938 new CSCS accounts indicating just how strong the offer was.

In addition to this, institutional investors including pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers, corporates, and foreign portfolio investors who participated in the bookbuild were allotted 72.09% of their applications.

Hence, MTN Group’s shareholding in MTN Nigeria has reduced by 3.25% from 78.83% to 75.58%, following the completion of the exercise.

The result stated that approximately 76% of successful applicants via digital platforms were women and 85% of them are under age 40.

According to the incentive structure of 1 free share for 20 shares purchased, an additional 4.28 million shares will be allotted to qualifying investors who are to hold the shares allotted to them for 12 months till January 31st, 2023.

Speaking on the successful completion of the offer, Ralph Mupita, CEO of MTN Group said, “We are pleased that the offer has given so many Nigerians the opportunity to become owners of MTN Nigeria.

With over 6.6 million Nigerians directly or indirectly becoming shareholders in MTN Nigeria, the objective of broadening the shareholder base, and creating shared value has been achieved”.

Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria, said “We are delighted to welcome so many new shareholders to the MTN family, up 11.6 times from the number before the offer.

Toriola

“It has been inspiring to see so many Nigerians, many of whom are young, acquire MTN shares for the first time, and use a digital platform to do so. This is the beginning of a journey to broaden our shareholding and there will be more opportunities to participate”.

Other Comments:

Bolaji Balogun, CEO of Chapel Hill Denham, the Lead Issuing House said: “Chapel Hill Denham is honoured to have worked with MTN to complete Nigeria’s first digital and predominantly green offering. I wish to thank the SEC, the NGX, the CSCS, all the professional firms and other stakeholders, for delivering a big win for Nigeria’s capital markets in enabling the adoption of PrimaryOffer and this transaction marks a new and exciting future. Over 90% of subscribers to the Offer were first time participants in the capital markets and MTN Nigeria’s strong investment case made this possible.”

Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) CEO, Temi Popoola, CFA said: “NGX is proud to have worked with MTN Nigeria, Chapel Hill Denham and other parties to the transaction in advancing Nigeria’s capital market through the adoption of forward-looking technology.

“In the NGX era, we are resolute in our commitment to democratize finance in Nigeria in order to ensure every type of investor has access to public markets where they can invest in companies they believe in and reap value. With the digitised MTN Nigeria offering, we have made a tremendous stride in our plans for a full digital transformation of the Nigerian capital markets and we look forward to building on this.”

Central Securities Clearing System Plc CEO, Haruna Jalo-Waziri said: “We are excited to be part of the innovation brought by the Offer, which afforded the successful launch of PrimaryOffer digital application platform. This further buttresses the necessity for digital transformation, allowing market access for all categories of investors, including institutional and retail investors within and outside of the country.

“At CSCS, digital transformation has been the core of our strategic direction. We will continue to collaborate with our participants, issuers and other stakeholders to efficiently and effectively ease market access with innovative solutions through the investment cycle.”

Chapel Hill Denham Advisory Limited acted as Lead Issuing House and Bookrunner for the Offering, and Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria Limited, Renaissance Securities (Nigeria) Limited, Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited and Vetiva Capital Management Limited acted as Joint Issuing Houses and Joint Bookrunner.