Real owners of MTN Nigeria reveal.

by Peter Gabriel on May 20, 2019 in Daily updates, Dailysunnews9ja, MTN Nigeria

Many Nigerians believed the Nigerian government owned part of the South African firm through an unspecified equity holding by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA). But a review of the listing memorandum filed by MTN Nigeria in support of its application for the enlistment of its shares on the NSE revealed the profiles of the shareholders of the company.

Last Thursday’s listing of MTN Nigeria shares on the Premium Board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has made it possible to identify the shareholders of the telecoms firm.

Many Nigerians believed the Nigerian government owned part of the South African firm through an unspecified equity holding by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).

But a review of the listing memorandum filed by MTN Nigeria in support of its application for the enlistment of its shares on the NSE revealed the profiles of the shareholders of the company.

The list did not include either the Nigerian government or the NSIA. PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the NSIA investment “is very small” and could not have been listed among those of the big players.

The document dated May 15, 2018, showed 11 owners of MTN Nigeria. They own the entire 20,354,513,050 Ordinary Shares of the company valued at about N407.1 billion as at the time MTN applied to be listed.

S/No Shareholder No of Shares Held Value of Shareholding N (000) Percentage equity Representative on the Board Country of Origin
1 MTN International (Mauritius) Limited 15485544050 N309,710,881 0.7608
2 Stanbic IBTC Asset Management Limited 1988269050 39765381 0.0977
3 Hermitage Overseas Corporation 806886900 16137738 0.0396 Victor Odili Nigeria
4 Mobile Telephone Network N.I.C.B.V 559720150 11194403 0.0275
5 Government Employees Pension Fund (Represented by Public Investment Corporation SOC Limited) 355281650 7105633 0.0175
6 Celtelecom Investment Limited 333474100 6669482 0.0164 Pascal Dozie Nigeria
7 One Africa Investment Limited 265092150 5301843 0.013 Sani Mohammed Bello Nigeria
8 Universal Communications Ltd 200526400 4010528 0.0099 Babatunde Folawiyo Nigeria
9 N-Cell Limited 163487550 3269751 0.008 Gbenga Onyebode Nigeria
10 SASPV Limited 144429000 2888580 0.0071 Ahmed Dasuki Nigeria
11 NISPV Limited 51802050 1036041 0.0025 Ahmed Dasuki Nigeria
TOTAL 20354513050 N407,090,261 1
They include the majority shareholder, MTN International (Mauritius) Limited, which has the controlling 76.08 per cent equity, or 15,485,544,050 shares valued at about N309.71 billion, and Stanbic IBTC Asset Management Limited with 9.77 per cent stake or 1,988,269,050 shares valued at about N39.77 billion.

Also included are six Nigerians, who are non-executive directors of the board. Each represents various foreign interests in the company.

Victor Odili, a Nigerian, and Chairman of Aeromaritime Group of companies, a group specialising in the maritime and oil and gas sectors of Nigeria’s economy, is a member of the board. He holds 806,886,900 shares, or 3.96 per cent interest, valued at about N16.14 billion indirectly on behalf of Hermitage Overseas Corporation.

Also, Pascal Dozie, a Nigerian and founder of the defunct Diamond Bank PLC, is the Chairman of the Board of Directors. He holds 340,409,900 shares, or 1.67 per cent equity valued at N6.67 billion, indirectly, on behalf of Celtelecom Investment Limited, NISPV Limited.

Another Nigerian, Sani Mohammed Bello, a co-founder of AMNI Petroleum, an indigenous oil and gas exploration companies, is the vice chairman of the board. He holds 265,092,150 shares (1.30 per cent equity) estimated at about N5.3 billion indirectly on behalf of One Africa Investment Limited.

Babatunde Folawiyo, a Nigerian and Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Yinka Folawiyo Group, holds 218,815,100 shares, or 1.07 per cent equity, valued at N4.01 billion on behalf of Universal Communications NISPV Limited.

Similarly, Gbenga Oyebode, a Nigerian and founding partner of Aluko & Oyebode law firm, represents the interest of N-Cell NISPV Limited. He holds 181,776,250 shares, or 0.89 per cent equity, valued at N3.27 billion.

Ahmed Dasuki, a Nigerian and founder of Quaditect Consultants, represents NISPV Limited/ SASPV Limited, which controls 177,717,850 shares, or 0.75 per cent equity valued at about N2.89 billion.

Government Employees Pension Fund (Represented by Public Investment Corporation SOC Limited) were also listed as owners with 355,281,650 shares (1.75 per cent equity) valued at about N7.11 billion.

Also, Mobile Telephone Network N.I.C.B.V holds 559,720,150 shares, or 2.75 per cent, valued at about N11.19 billion.

Robert Shuter, Ralph Mupita, Jens Schulte-Bockum, Ferdinand Moolman, Paul Norman and Karl Olutokun Toriola serve as representatives of MTN Group on the Board of Directors of the company.

New Status
With the listing of the company’s shares on the NSE, MTN Nigeria becomes the first privately owned telecoms company in Nigeria to attain that status.

The listing of the company on the premium board of the NSE on April 18, 2019, resulted in the change of the company from a private company to a publicly quoted telecoms company on the NSE.

MTN Nigeria, a subsidiary of MTN International (Mauritius) Limited, was incorporated in the Republic of Mauritius, with its ultimate holding company, MTN Group.

The company was incorporated on November 8, 2000. But, it did not commence operations until 2001. Since then, the company has remained in operations for almost 18 years in Nigeria.

MTN Nigeria is reputed to be Nigeria’s largest telecoms operators, with about 67 million subscribers, controlling about 39 per cent mobile market share.