By Charles Gitonga
MTN Nigeria, a subsidiary of Africa’s largest telecommunications company MTN Group, will start trading shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Thursday.
The South African company says this is the first step to increasing local ownership.
MTN Nigeria will list by introduction, meaning its current shares will be listed on the exchange without an additional public sale.
It will be the first mobile provider on the stock market and the firm says it could still do a public offering in the future.
The listing values MTN Nigeria at $6bn (£4.5bn).
The deal is part of an agreement with the Nigerian government after MTN was ordered to pay $8.1bn to Nigeria’s central bank following a tax dispute.
Last year, the company agreed to pay $53m to resolve the dispute.
Nigeria is MTN’s biggest market in Africa with nearly 60 million customers at the end of last year.
The company is also listed in South Africa and Ghana, with expectations to list in Uganda following a push for local ownership by authorities in Kampala. BBC News
