Mobil telecommunications giant- MTN Group Limited has reportedly selected Renaissance Capital, FirstRand Ltd’s Rand Merchant Bank and Chapel Hill Denham, among several banks and brokers as advisors in its Initial Public Offering (IPO), according to international newswires- Bloomberg and Reuters.
The IPO will is to be followed by listing of the Nigerian arm on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), all in June or July.
Ahead of this, MTN reportedly met its bankers on Wednesday and followed it with a presentation about the Nigerian unit for foreign and local analysts on Friday in Lagos, according to people familiar with the matter.
The sources say the selected investment banks would work with global coordinators- Citigroup Inc. and Standard Bank Group Limited, even as MTN is yet undecided about what portion of the subsidiary to sell.
It may aim to raise about $400m, or roughly 10 percent of the stock, two of the people said.
Reuters however reported the appointment of Mobolaji Balogun’s Chapel Hill Denham as lead issuing house for IPO, while Vetiva, another investment bank is also to serve as joint issuing house to the offer, along with RMB and Rencap.
MTN also appointed seven placement agents that would help market the offering, Reuters quoted its sources as saying.
MTN Nigeria has 52m subscribers and generated R36bn ($3bn) of revenue in 2017, according to MTN’s financial statements. It made earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of R14bn.
An MTN spokesman declined to comment.
The company agreed to the listing in June 2016 as part of a $1 billion fine for missing a deadline to disconnect unregistered subscribers amid a security crackdown by Nigerian authorities.
The penalty, originally set at $5.2 billion, led to the resignation of MTN’s then chief executive officer, a first ever full-year loss and a slump in the share price that’s yet to be clawed back.
Rob Shuter, MTN’s current chief executive, said in an interview this month that he expected the IPO to be finalized by the end of the year.
MTN is also selling shares of its Ghana unit, which has 19m subscribers, in the capital, Accra.
It may list a 35% stake of that unit for almost $800m, people familiar with the matter said in March.