MTN’s listing delay raises new concern

Another incident that fueled insinuations that MTN may not approach the market in a near future was a statement by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that neither MTN Nigeria Limited nor any of its advisers or representatives has filed any application on the IPO with the commission.But the MTN Group had earlier indicated that listing on the stock exchange would be subject to “favourable economic conditions”.
 
The increasing political risks, already reflected by protracted bearish investor sentiment and the overall weak performance of the capital market, have heightened speculations that MTN may not list on the local bourse in 2018.Therefore, the stakeholders insisted that government must include listing on the stock exchange as part of license requirements for multinationals going forward.

According to them, if MTN does not list in 2018, it will join a number of companies that have abandoned their 2018 listing ambitions.Reacting to the development, an economist, Johnson Chukwu, told The Guardian that unless Nigerian government adopts what is obtainable in other emerging countries, multinationals like MTN, will not keep to agreements.

“For multinationals, Nigeria must consider what Ghana did. Before Ghanaian government issued a 4G license to MTN, they included as part of the issuance requirements, that it must have its operations listed in the stock exchange within 15 months of securing the 4G.”The Publicity Secretary of the Independence Shareholders Association, Moses Igbrude, said: “MTN, other telecommunications and oil majors in the upstream industry, which are not listed on the exchange, is the result of government’s failure, for not including that important clause on compulsory listing on NSE.
 
“The blame rests on our leaders, who seems not to know the value of the capital market to the growth of the Nigeria economy. MTN, as an institution, is not willing to list on the stock exchange, if not for the 2015 penalty imposed on it by NCC.“Kudos to those who drafted the settlement agreement for including the clause on mandatory listing of their shares on stock exchange, as one of the conditions to settle the matter. NSE, SEC and government should encourage and persuades other issuers to come to the market by giving them incentives.”

The National Coordinator of Constance Shareholders Association, Shehu Mallam Mikail, attributed MTN’s prolonged delay in listing of their shares to government’s unfavorable policies.“It is due to government’s unfavorable policies that investors are always taking much time to study, before taking any step that has to do with coming into the market. Our government needs to be more proactive and create enabling environment for issuers and operators,” he said.