By Busola Kareem

MTN, Popular telecommunications service provider in Nigeria owned by South Africa has met with Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to discuss a likely public initial offering and share sale structure, Mounir Gwarzo, Head of Nigeria’s SEC revealed to journalists.

He said the telecommunications company was looking at issuing various classes of shares to targeted investor groups of three different classes new in Nigeria. He also said the commission was ready to offer support to the sale of shares as long as it stood within the local laws and also advised the telecommunications company to ensure the safety and protection of its retail investors.

MTN aims to list its Nigerian unit in 2017 as part of a concurrency with the Nigerian government. In June, after agreeing to pay a decreased fine of 1.7 billion dollars to the Nigerian government over cases of unregistered SIM cards, the firm said it would list its local unit on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, though Mr. Gwarzo disclosed that the company was yet to produce a formal application of the share sale.

Meanwhile, MTN Nigeria has appointed Stanbic IBTC Capital as its lead issuer and Standard Bank of South Africa, Standard Advisory London and Citigroup Global Markets as joint transaction advisors and global coordinators.