MTN Nigeria Communications Plc is set to allot incentive shares to investors who partook in its initial public offering (IPO) completed last January and met the conditions entitling them to additional shares, the telecom company said in a statement Saturday.
The Nigerian subsidiary of the Johannesburg-based telecoms giant concluded its first public shares sale a year ago, an offer 139.5 per cent oversubscribed necessitating allocation of extra 86.3 million shares.
It had set out to sell 575 million ordinary shares then held by MTN International (Mauritius) Limited but ended up allotting 661.3 million to retail and institutional investors, the latter category of investors comprising pension funds, asset managers, insurance firms, corporates and foreign portfolio investors who participated in the bookbuild.
Conditions for the Offer
- As it promised investors at the point of the public offer launch, MTN said it will allot the shareholders one additional share for every 20 purchased and allotted up to a maximum of 250 shares.
- Meanwhile, eligible shareholders must have bought and were allotted at least 20 ordinary shares in the offer, according to the statement filed at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).
- Additionally, they must hold a portion or all of the shares allotted to them from the offer as of 31 January, 2023 (the qualification date) subject to holding a minimum of 20 ordinary shares.
- The telecom company added that the shareholders must have their names appear in the company’s register of members on the qualification date.
“Qualified shareholders will have their incentive shares credited to their Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) accounts after the qualification date and obtaining the requisite regulatory approvals,” the document said.
The offer saw 114,938 new CSCS accounts opened for representing new market participants, with roughly 76 per cent of successful applicants via digital platforms being women and 85 per cent below the age of 40.
MTN is currently Nigeria’s second biggest company by market value with a market capitalisation of N4.7 trillion.
