The Series 1 offer for sale shares of 575 million shares held by MTN Group in MTN Nigeria to Nigerian investors has been oversubscribed by 139.47%.
While announcing the completion of the series 1 offer in a regulatory filing with the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), the telecom company explained that it had to issue an additional 86.25 million units of shares following the oversubscription
According to the report a total of 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 created 114, 938 new CSCS accounts indicating how strong the shares are in the market.
Additionally, 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.
According to the report, approximately 76% of successful applicants via digital platforms were women and 85% of them are under age 40.
Speaking on the successful completion of the offer, Ralph Mupita, CEO of MTN Group said they 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.
“We are delighted to welcome so many new shareholders to the MTN family, up 11.6 times from the number before the offer. It has been inspiring to see so many Nigerians, many of whom are young, acquire 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”. Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria.
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.
