Ahead of MTN listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, in 2017, operators in the Nigerian capital market have said that its adherence to corporate governance will go along way in attracting local investors.
They also said that move will deepen the market and encourage the active participation of indigenous consumers in the company’s wealth creation process.
There have been growing agitations for multinationals in telecoms, oil and gas companies to list on the exchange by way of public offer. Analysts have argued that listing big corporations on the exchange will significantly raise the capitalisation of the stock market currently estimated at slightly above N9 trillion.
A sectorial analysis of the market shows that the telecommunications sector is under-represented. MTN, if listed, would become the first major national telecoms company whose shares would be traded on the NSE.
NSE had provided a legislation that covers incentives, unbundling of stringent eligibility requirements that create high barriers for potential entrants and hinder participation by willing businesses, adopting options that promote foreign investment in the economy under terms that support national interest without exposing the market to the dangers of the past.
President of the Institute of Capital Market Registrars, Bayo Olugbemi, said we expect other telecoms players as well as major oil companies and the power sector to join the train.
On his own part, the President, Renaissance Shareholders Association, Timothy Olufemi said: “It is good for the NSE. It would deepen the market. It is to the advantage of the operators especially.”
The Managing Director, Crane Securities Limited, Mike Eze, also affirmed that the listing would help to deepen the market. He added that it would stimulate other telecoms participants to list as it would trigger.
“The indication by MTN that they intend to get listed is a sign of one of the long-overdue listings that the market had anticipated but they kept dilly-dallying. First, it is going to help deepen the market. Secondly, it will help to stimulate Airtel, Glo, Etisalat among others, to come to the stock market and be listed.”
Meanwhile, MTN in a statement had said “the listing was part of a settlement arrangement with the Federal Government. ”The Board of Directors has resolved to proceed with preparations for a listing of MTN Nigeria on the NSE as soon as commercially and legally possible, and has established a management task team with the responsibility to guide the company towards the listing,” it said in the statement. At present, MTN Nigeria is targeting that the listing takes place during 2017, subject to suitable market conditions.
Source- Vanguard.