MTN Ghana, the leading provider of mobile telecommunications services in the country, says it is excited about the subscription of its initial public offering (IPO), barely a one week to the closure of shares sales.
The Telecommunication Company seeks to raise about GHc3.6 billion from the issue and sale of 35 per cent of its shares and its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Selorm Adadevoh, told journalists in Accra: “We are very confident; we are seeing many figures.”
The CEO, add that there was nothing to hide and asked the public to measure their confidence in the company by its past deeds.
Unique IPO
By the close of the IPO, spanning a period of two months (from May 31 to July 31, 2018), MTN will become the first mobile telecommunications service provider to be listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) a fear that will add to its plethora of pioneering achievements in the industry.
With the target of GH3.6 billion from the share offer, MTN is also destined to become the holder of the largest IPO title in the history of the GSE.
Another unique feature of its IPO is the deployment of its mobile money (MoMo) platform in the share subscription, which management describes as the first of its kind in the world.
Management believes that comfort and ease that come with the use of the MoMo interface have been the motivation driving many users on that platform to subscribe to the IPO.
“That’s very exciting for us, “Mr. Adedevoh said.
The IPO has been one of the most eagerly anticipated in the over a quarter of a century of the GSE’s existence.
Equity ownership
MTN Ghana share are already in issue, with some 10.76 billion
IC Securities, the same investment banking firm that successfully handled the ADB share offer, is serving as transaction advisor and sponsorship broker for this one too.
The GSE’s management has been yearning for a telecoms issue for years, and it does not come better than MTN’s.
MTN is part of an industry whose growth worldwide is unmatched by any other sector. There are 5.135 billion mobile phone users worldwide, accounting for 68 per cent of the world’s over seven billion people.
There are 4.021 billion Internet users, giving a global penetration rate of 53 per cent. Add to all these 3.196 billion active social media users, translating to a global penetration rate of 42 per cent.
Repatriation of funds
The rules governing the IPO allow for the repatriation of funds by investors holding the remaining 65 per cent share, but this has ignited public concern about the perceived impact of repatriation, including the depreciation of the cedis against foreign currencies.
Responding to those concerns, Mr. Adedevoh said there was no cause for alarm and gave a firm assurance that MTN would comply strictly with all regulatory requirements.
According to him, management had, had series of meeting with officials of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to discuss such pertinent issues and promised to make the details known to the public after closure of the IPO.
He said MTN Ghana was not engaging any commercial bank on the issue of repatriation, apart from BoG.
Within the period of the share offer, MTN has engaged broad-based sectors of the public, including retail and institutional investors, but according to Mr. Adedevoh, more priority would be given to the former.
He said the focus of the IPO was to put share in the hands of Ghanaians to become part owners of the company, rather than raise funds.
Mobile Money
The company’s biggest growth is coming from its mobile money platform, which it pioneered in Ghana and now represents the best potential for growth in both business volumes and revenue across the entire industry.
By the end of 2017, MTN had 8.3 million active users of its mobile money services, using 90,000 active agents to whom the company paid some US$4.4 million in commission last year.
It uses 16 partner banks to deliver its mobile money services and last year paid its customers GH 71 million in interest on their account balances.
Etornam Avectu
