MTN Raises GHc1.1bn In Shares Sale; Misses GHc3.5bn Target

MTN Group Ltd.'s unit in Ghana raised 1.1 billion cedis ($236 million) selling about a third of the shares the wireless carrier made available in an initial public offering, according to a document seen by Bloomberg.

MTN, Africa's biggest mobile-phone company by subscribers, sold 1.5 billion securities of the 4.6 billion shares at 75 pesewas each when it offered a 35 percent stake in the unit in May, the document showed.

The shares will be listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange with trading due to start Sept. 5, according to the sale's prospectus.

A spokeswoman for MTN Ghana declined to comment.
Even though MTN failed to sell all the shares on offer, the proceeds are more than three times larger than the previous biggest IPO in Ghana, when Agricultural Development Bank Limited raised 326 million cedis in December 2016.

The IPO result comes as MTN fights a surprise order late Wednesday from Nigeria's central bank to refund $8.1 billion it says was repatriated improperly from the country over eight years through 2015.

The Johannesburg-based company sold shares in Ghana to meet conditions agreed to with the government in 2015 when it acquired the right to use the spectrum for fourth-generation wireless services. MTN has set 10 percent of the target as the minimum requirement to complete the sale.

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