Encomium
More than 500 people in Akwa Ibom State congregated at the banquet hall of the Ibom Icon Hotel, Uyo, on Monday, to participate in the MTN event to engage stakeholders on its recently announced public offer. The event was part of its nationwide roadshow that kicked off in Abuja after the announcement and has progressed to various cities across the country.
The forum was organised to enable the company to engage prospective retail investors and respond to their questions.
The General Manager, Yello Digital Financial Services Limited (YDFS), Usoro Usoro in his introductory presentation, expressed MTN’s intention to ensure that every Nigerian shared in the company’s benefits as a subscriber or shareholder, as the company continues to expand its presence in different sectors. According to him, “We are planning to build the largest and the most valuable platforms in Africa. Secondly, though MTN is still largely known as a telecommunications company, we are expanding the scope of our services to deliver the best experiences to Nigerians. When it comes to connectivity whether voice or data; we are the leading company in that regard in Nigeria. But beyond this, we are building the best platforms all over the country.”
Usoro also mentioned MTN’s commitment to its shareholders and to Nigerians, saying, “MTN, having laid a solid network, is now strong enough to provide beneficial partnership to its shareholders. More than 80% of the company’s profit is usually ploughed back to the shareholders and other developmental programmes in the Nigerian society.”
The General Manager, Finance Division, MTN Nigeria, Omolara Michael-Nwadu, said the company is offering a total of 575 million shares at N169 per share with 20 shares being the least number an individual can purchase. She also explained that the public offer, which opened on December 1, 2021, would close on December 14, 2021.
The shares can be accessed either online via wwwmtnonline.com/po or through the issuing banks nationwide.
She went on to explain MTN Group’s reason for publicly offering the shares, “What is happening here is that the majority shareholder, which is the MTN Group, is saying, ‘I am the one to sell some of my shares. I don’t want to sell it to the richest man in Nigeria. I want to sell it to the people of Nigeria. I want them to take part in this success story of MTN Nigeria’. So that is the reason why and the summary of what we are saying when we talk about inclusion.
“In 2019, for the first time MTN Nigeria listed its shares on the Nigeria Stock Exchange. However, that listing, the shares were still in the hands of the private share owners that owned those shares. But now we are floating because we want Nigerians from all walks of life holding the shares. We don’t want the richest man or the richest company in Nigeria owning MTN Nigeria’s shares.” She had earlier told “the beautiful story of MTN; who we are and the leadership, the staff and the management of MTN being mainly Nigerians, and also people with credibility and good experience handling business affairs.”
