- Women, youths take lead
- 114,938 new investors join market
MTN Nigeria Communications Plc’s N97.18 billion public offer recorded a subscription of N135.53 billion, representing an oversubscription of 39.5 per cent.
MTN Nigeria and its professional parties have announced the completion of the offer for sale, which saw the telecommunication company allocating additional shares to absorb oversubscription.
MTN Nigeria had offered 575 million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to the general retail investing public at a price of N169 per share. Application list for the offer had opened on December 1, 2021 and it closed by 5.00 pm on December 14, 2021, as scheduled.
Allotment details provided by MTN Nigeria indicated that additional 86.25 million shares were added to absorb oversubscription, in line with the provisions of the offer which allowed the issuer to absorb additional 15 per cent of subscriptions.
A breakdown showed that all retail shareholders received full allotment despite the oversubscription while institutional shareholders under the book building phase were pro-rated as a result of the oversubscription.
In a major boost for financial inclusion and gender equity, a total of 114,938 new accounts from new market participants were created at the stock market while approximately 76 per cent of successful applicants through the digital platform were women, with 85 per cent of these under age 40.
Valid applications were received for 801.97 million shares, leading to the activation of the approved 15 per cent oversubscription clause of an additional 86.25 million of MTN Nigeria shares. In all, 661.25 million shares were allotted.
A total of 126,720 retail investors submitted valid applications and received full allotment; and institutional investors, including pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers, corporates, and foreign portfolio investors that participated in the bookbuild were allotted 72.09 per cent of their applications. These include pension funds representing approximately 6.5 million contributors.
With the successful completion of the offer, MTN Group’s shareholding in MTN Nigeria reduced by 3.25 percentage points, from 78.83 per cent to 75.58 per cent.
In line with the innovative incentive structure of one free share for every 20 purchased, subject to a maximum of 250 free shares per investor, an additional 4.28 million shares will be allotted to qualifying investors who hold the shares allotted to them for 12 months till 31 January 2023.
The MTN Nigeria’s public offer set record as the first to be delivered through a digital platform, thus facilitating maximum participation by investors. Investors were able to submit applications through the issuing houses, stockbrokers, banks and online through a unique digital application platform, PrimaryOffer, administered by the NGX.
MTN Nigeria indicated that more than 89 per cent of retail offer subscribers applied through the PrimaryOffer platform through mobile and web.
Chief Executive Officer, MTN Group, Ralph Mupita said the group was pleased that the offer gave 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 proud that our offer was the first Nigerian public offer to use the digital application platform, PrimaryOffer, which enabled wider investor participation across Nigeria.
“We thank the Nigerian authorities for their support of this offer. We remain committed to playing our humble role in driving digital and financial inclusion in Nigeria over the medium,” Mupita said.
Chief Executive Officer, MTN Communications Nigeria Plc, Karl Toriola, said it was a delight to welcome so many new shareholders to the MTN family, which is now 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.
“We are pleased with the level of digital innovation we championed with this offer with the active collaboration of our lead issuing house and the various regulatory bodies. Deepening retail participation in Nigeria’s capital markets is a process, and we are off to a great start, demonstrating the role digital platforms can play in expanding access. I am particularly pleased that we completed this transaction in an accelerated time frame ensuring new shareholders can realize value almost immediately through participation in our 2021 full-year dividend,” Toriola said.
Chief Executive Officer, Chapel Hill Denham, Bolaji Balogun, the Lead Issuing House said it was an honour to have worked with MTN to complete Nigeria’s first digital and predominantly green offering.
“Over 90 per cent of subscribers to the offer were first time participants in the capital markets and MTN Nigeria’s strong investment case made this possible,” Balogun said.
Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Exchange (NGX) , Mr. Temi Popoola said NGX was proud to have worked with the parties to the transaction in advancing Nigeria’s capital market through the adoption of forward-looking technology.
“In the NGX era, we are resolute in our commitment to democratize finance in Nigeria in order to ensure every type of investor has access to public markets where they can invest in companies they believe in and reap value. With the digitised MTN Nigeria offering, we have made a tremendous stride in our plans for a full digital transformation of the Nigerian capital markets and we look forward to building on this,” Popoola said
Chief Executive Officer, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, Haruna Jalo-Waziri said the innovative offer further buttressed the necessity for digital transformation, allowing market access for all categories of investors, including institutional and retail investors within and outside of the country.
“At CSCS, digital transformation has been the core of our strategic direction. We will continue to collaborate with our participants, issuers and other stakeholders to efficiently and effectively ease market access with innovative solutions through the investment cycle,” Jalo-Waziri said.
Chapel Hill Denham Advisory Limited acted as Lead Issuing House and Bookrunner for the Offering, and Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria Limited, Renaissance Securities (Nigeria) Limited, Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited and Vetiva Capital Management Limited acted as Joint Issuing Houses and Joint Bookrunner.
- THE NATION