In a bid to reaffirm its long-term commitment to creating more investment opportunities for Nigerians, MTN Nigeria met a requirement of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). MTN transitioned from a Private company to a PLC (Public Limited Company) a requirement it must meet before it can list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
This move indicates that MTN is ready to fulfil a part of the agreement it signed with NCC in 2015. MTN, who was slammed with a hefty fine of $5.2 billion for failure to deactivate millions of unregistered sims struck a deal that devalued the fine to $1.7 billion with a promise to list its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. As part of the deal, MTN also said it will increase Nigerian ownership from around 20% to 35%.
See also: Jumia Finally Opens on the New York Stock Exchange, Raises $196 Million
MTN broke into the Nigerian market in 2001 through an auction payment of $285 million. They eventually grew to a multibillion-dollar industry as they aggressively expanded owning up to 36% of the market share with over 67 million subscribers.
According to Fredi Moolman, CEO of MTN Nigeria– the listing is a means to ground their presence in Nigeria. This conversion to a PLC is a major step towards listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange for the public to buy shares. This should happen in the first half of 2019.
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