MTN Nigeria allots 4 million incentive shares to shareholders

Telecom company MTN Nigeria said it has completed the allotment of about 4 million shares to qualified investors who partook in its last public share sale between December 2021 and January 2022.

To draw a good number of investors to the offer for sale, the local unit of Africa’s biggest wireless operator MTN Group said it will give 1 extra share for every 20 bought and allotted. That was subject to a maximum of 250 shares, a decision MTN said it took to enhance retail participation.

Shareholders who received the free shares had to hold some or all the shares allotted to them at the offer till the 31 January 2023 qualification date, as part of the preconditions.

The offer was 139.5 per cent subscribed, prompting roughly 665.2 million shares to be allotted in all.

“120,359 investors, representing 94.77% of those who participated in the Offer, qualified to receive the Incentive Shares totalling 3,977,418 ordinary shares of MTN Nigeria,” the company said in a note posted on the Nigerian Exchange’s website Wednesday.

“The Incentive Shares have been credited to their Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) accounts from the shares held by MTN International (Mauritius) Limited, in line with our ambition of creating shared value for our shareholders,” the firm added.

MTN Nigeria’s shareholders’ fund totalled N335.7 billion as of the end of 2022, according to its audited earnings report, 26.7 per cent up from a year earlier.