South African telecoms giant- MTN Group, on Tuesday, said it has registered 20.4bn ordinary shares of its $5bn Nigerian business with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), ahead of a planned listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
A statement by MTN Nigeria Chief Executive Ferdi Moolman said: “We have achieved another milestone in our listing process.”
Already, the company said it is in discussion with the NSE to complete the listing, just as it plans to meet investors to discuss the plans on May 16, 2019.
It has previously said it did not plan to raise funds from investors immediately via the listing, even as it is not clear whether the listing could still hold the previously announced first half, which is just less than two months away.
Nigeria is MTN’s biggest market, with 58 million users in 2018 and accounting for a third of the firm’s annual core profit. But the business has faced challenges in Nigeria, ranging from the tax demand to a fine over unregistered SIM cards.
Reuters recalled that MTN had said in 2016 it planned to list its local unit on the Nigerian Stock Exchange after agreeing to pay a $1.7bn fine to settle the SIM card dispute with the government.