Public Offer: MTN Plans Second Share Sale in Nigeria

MTN Group has announced plans to reduce its shareholding in MTN Nigeria through a public offer after it returns to profitability. The group aims to cut its stake from 76 percent to 65 percent in line with its longstanding commitment to deepen local ownership.

MTN Group President, Ralph Mupita disclosed the plan during an editors’ roundtable meeting this week, as reported by South African tech publication ITWeb.

“The only localisation we have as MTN Group is we have potentially a sell-down in Nigeria at some point in time, approximately 11 percent. This is something we have said long ago, that over time we would want more Nigerians owning the company, and we are prepared to sell down to 65 percent. We are at around 76 percent,” he said.

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The anticipated offer would mark MTN’s second major retail public offering in Nigeria, following its 2021 sale of 575 million MTN Nigeria shares to local investors. That offer was oversubscribed, resulting in the allocation of 661.25 million shares, including a 15 percent greenshoe option. This reduced MTN’s stake in its Nigerian unit to 75.6 percent from 78.8 percent.

More than 126,000 investors participated in that round, including retail and institutional investors such as Nigerian pension funds representing approximately 6.5 million contributors. At the time in 2022, MTN Group announced plans to further reduce its stake to approximately 65 percent from 75.6 percent.

Mupita confirmed that the Group would only proceed with a new offer once MTN Nigeria resolves its negative equity position and resumes dividend payments. Currently, MTN Nigeria’s shares are trading at N235 per share.