MTN officially listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange

MTN, the leading mobile operator in Nigeria, has officially listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, making it the first time in the history of the Nigerian Stock Exchange that any company will list directly on its premium board.

The telecoms company, which made its first call on May 16, 2001, took a giant step in its 18-year history today, joining seven companies including Dangote Cement Plc, FBN Holdings Plc, Lafarge Africa Plc, and Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, already listed on the premium board of the NSE.

But MTN’s listing is not to be mistaken for an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

According to the company, its listing was done by way of an introductory listing, which means that the shares of existing MTN Nigeria shareholders will be listed without an additional public sale of shares. From this point, all MTN Nigeria shareholders will be free to trade their shares on the NSE.

“As MTN Group, we are very pleased that we are taking this first and important step towards increasing the local ownership of the company, and building the equity capital markets in Nigeria,” said MTN Group CFO, Ralph Mupita in a statement.

The MTN listing follows The Exchange’s approval of the application to list the company’s entire issued 20,354,513,050 ordinary shares of N0.02 each at N90 per share.

The company’s trading symbol is MTNN.