MTN Nigeria has officially announced that its Series One offer for the sale of 575 million shares held by MTN Group in MTN Nigeria to Nigerian investors has been oversubscribed following the successful completion of the public offer on Tuesday.
In a statement issued and signed by the company’s secretary, Uto Ukpanah, the offer was oversubscribed with a valid application for a total of 801.97 million units, leading to the activation clause of an additional 86.25 million MTN shares.
“In all 661.25 million MTN Nigeria 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, corporations, and foreign portfolio investors that participated in the bookbuild were allotted 72.09 percent of the applications.
This includes Nigeria pension fund representing approximately 6.5 million Nigerian contributors,” it said.
The statement noted further that the offer is a landmark transaction and a true reflection of Nigerian investor confidence in MTN Nigeria; adding that it makes the first time a digital application platform was used to democratize investing in a public offer and maximize investor participation across the country.
Speaking after the public offer, the Chief Executive of Officer of MTN Group, Ralph Mupita expressed his satisfaction with the whole process and pointed out 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, the objective of broadening the shareholder base and creating share value has been achieved.
We are proud that our offer was the first Nigeria public offer to use the digital application platform, Primary Offer 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,” he stated.
Karl Olutokun Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria also said: It has been inspiring to see so many Nigerians, many of whom are young, acquiring shares for the first time and using 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. I would specifically like to thank the Honorable Minister of communication and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami.
