MTN’s Ghana business is seeking to raise 3.47 billion cedis ($743m) in a 35 per cent initial public offering launched on Tuesday, sources involved in the IPO said.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!In what is expected to be the West African country’s largest IPO, telecoms operator MTN will sell about 4.63 billion shares in MTN Ghana at 0.75 cedis per share, the sources said, according to Reuters.
The public offering, which closes at the end of July, is one of the requirements MTN agreed to with Ghanaian regulators in 2015 to allow for the introduction of its fourth generation, high-speed mobile data network.
If successful, MTN Ghana would be the most valuable company listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange, analysts said.
MTN is the leading mobile operator in Ghana with 17.8 million voice subscribers as of September, ahead of AirtelTigo, Vodafone and Nigeria’s Globacom.
Last December, MTN signed a 510 million cedi ($112m) syndicated loan from nine banks and was oversubscribed by 590 million cedis.
MTN Group Limited recently said its plans for an IPO of its Nigerian business this year were well advanced.
The Chief Executive Officer, MTN, Rob Shuter, said in April that the company would provide exact terms in the next few months.
MTN agreed to the IPO as part of the settlement of a $1bn fine imposed by the Nigerian Communications Commission on it in 2015.
The firm incurred the penalty after missing a deadline to disconnect unregistered subscribers amid a security crackdown in the country.
In January last year, the NSE said it was working “very closely” with MTN on the listing of its shares on the country’s bourse.
