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Tag: MTN Nigeria

  • MTN Nigeria denies CBN claims on illegal repatriation of $8.1b

    MTN Nigeria denies CBN claims on illegal repatriation of $8.1b

    MTN Nigeria on Thursday refuted the claims by the Central Bank of Nigeria that it illegally, in collusion with four Nigerian banks repatriated $8.1billion from its Nigerian operations to offshore investors.

    The CBN said the remittances between 2007 and 2015, in tranches of of 2.63 billion dollars, 1.766 billion dollars and 348 million dollars were done in flagrant violation of the rule that says it can only be done with regular ‘Certificates of Capital Importation (CCIs)’ issued by the apex bank.

    The CBN said MTN did the repatriation after illegally converting shareholders’ loan of $399, 594,146 to preference shares.

    As part of the sanctions, four banks, Stanbic IBTC Nigeria, Citibank Nigeria and Diamond Bank Plc, were fined by the CBN.

    Standard Chartered Bank would pay a fine of N2.47 billion, Stanbic IBTC, N1.88 billion, Citibank Nigeria, N1.26 billion and Diamond bank, N250 million.

    Mr Funso Aina, Public Relations Manager, Corporate Affairs/Corporate Relations MTN denied the claims by the CBN

    “MTN Nigeria received a letter on Aug 29 from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) alleging that Certificate of Capital Important (CCIs) issued in respect of the conversion of shareholders’ loans in MTN Nigeria to preference shares in 2007 had been improperly issued.

    `As a consequence they claim that historic dividends repatriated by MTN Nigeria between 2007 and 2015 amounting to $8.1 billion need to be refunded to the CBN.

    “MTN Nigeria strongly refutes these allegations and claims.

    “No dividends have been declared or paid by MTN Nigeria other than pursuant to CCIs issued by our bankers and with the approval of the CBN as required by law,” he said.

    Aina said that the issues surrounding the CCIs had already been the subject of a thorough enquiry by the Senate of Nigeria.

    He added that in September 2016 the Senate mandated the Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions to carry out a holistic investigation on compliance with the Foreign exchange (monitoring and miscellaneous) Act by MTN Nigeria & Others.

    He said that in its report issued in November 2017, the findings evidenced that MTN Nigeria did not collude to contravene the foreign exchange laws and there were no negative recommendations made against MTN Nigeria.

    “MTN Nigeria, as a law-abiding citizen of Nigeria, is committed to good governance and to abide by the extant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    “The re-emergence of these issues is regrettable as it damages investor confidence and, by extension, inhibits the growth and development of the Nigerian economy.

    “We will engage with the relevant authorities and vigorously defend our position on this matter and provide further information when available.

    CBN’s spokesperson, Isaac Okorafor, said the apex bank has written MTN Nigeria demanding a refund of the $8.13 billion, repatriated.

    The Bank resolved to sanction the commercial banks following investigations in March 2018, which confirmed allegations of remittance of foreign exchange with irregular Certificates of Capital Importation (CCIs) issued on behalf of some offshore investors of MTN Nigeria.

     

  • MTN Nigeria to list by year-end

    MTN Nigeria to list by year-end

    MTN expects the listing of its Nigerian unit on the Lagos stock exchange to be done by the end of 2018, its CEO has said, after suggesting in November that the process would be concluded by mid-year.

    “We are progressing very well with the Nigerian listing and if market conditions are appropriate, we will conclude that by the end of the year,” Rob Shuter said on Tuesday in an interview in Lagos. He declined to provide more details on the process.

    MTN agreed to the Nigerian Stock Exchange initial public offering as part of the settlement of a $1bn fine imposed by local regulators in 2015.

    Africa’s biggest wireless operator by sales incurred the penalty after missing a deadline to disconnect unregistered subscribers amid a security crackdown in the West African country. Nigeria is the largest of the company’s 22 markets across Africa and the Middle East.

    MTN is planning to raise at least $500m from the sale of shares, people familiar with the preparations for the listing said.

    The company could dispose of as much as 30% of its Lagos-based unit, the people, who asked not to be identified as the details aren’t public, said in February.

    MTN is also preparing to list a 35% stake of its local unit in regional neighbour Ghana, part of a deal with the government to use fourth-generation spectrum, a high-speed mobile data service.

    “The Ghana IPO is well advanced,” Shuter said, declining to provide details. “We will make the specific announcement of that in accordance with the IPO schedule.”

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that MTN is targeting close to $800m with the listing, which would be more than 10 times bigger than the country’s largest IPO to date, people familiar with the matter said in March.

     

  • MTN Nigeria to go ahead with IPO this year

    Subject to market conditions, South Africa’s telecoms firm, MTN Group will go ahead with its Initial Public Offering (IPO) listing its Nigerian subsidiary, MTN Nigeria in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) this year.

    Bloomberg had previously reported the Executive Chairman of MTN Group, Phuthuma Nhleko, as saying the company may delay the planned listing until 2018 in order to resolve a regulatory dispute, but a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report indicates the IPO plan might work out this year.

    While MTN operates in 22 countries in Africa and the Middle East with more than 200 million users, MTN Nigeria is the Group’s largest and most profitable subsidiary. It is the market leader in fixed and mobile broadband sectors with over 60 million users.

    The firm is battling with a fine of $5.2 billion that was reduced to N330 billion.

    After the fine was announced in 2015, MTN shares lost its value in Johannesburg, and analysts have said the decision of MTN to list in the NSE was part of agreement the company reached with the Federal Government as a condition for slashing the fine imposed on it by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC).

    But Nhleko stated at an annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that the firm has ever wanted to list in the NSE.

    “We’ve always intended to list – we have reaffirmed that with the government. Clearly, we can only list when the conditions are conducive,” he said.

    >>Trending: MTN pulls out of Who Wants to be a Millionaire TV show

    TheNewsGuru recalls the fine was imposed on MTN after it was found to have breached the ‘know-your-customer’ rules set by the NCC, and Dino Melaye, the Senator representing Kogi West, had accused the mobile operator of illegally repatriating $14 billion out of Nigeria over ten years.

    The PwC report said Nigeria’s economy slowed sharply in 2015 and 2016, primarily due to global fall in crude oil prices but is forecast to return to slow growth in 2017; and Telecoms operators in Nigeria have been under pressure to list on the exchange to widen equity ownership and tame what many consider as undue profit repatriation that is detrimental to the Nigerian economy.

    Recently, MTN paid N19 billion ($60 million) for a 2.6 GHz licence auctioned by the NCC in June 2016. It was the only company, which secured approval to take part in the auction. MTN will use the frequencies to expand its LTE network in Nigeria.

    MTN, if listed, would become the first major national telecoms company whose shares would be traded on the NSE.

     

     

  • MTN pulls out of Who Wants to be a Millionaire TV show

    For the first time since its inception 13 years ago, organizers of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire have announced the TV show will be going off air indefinitely from 25th June.

    The suspension is coming after telecoms giant MTN Nigeria put paid to sponsorship of the show.

    The announcement was first made public on the Facebook page of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and was later confirmed by show host, Frank Edoho on Twitter.

    When in disbelief a fan said it was the end of season 13, the show organizers quickly corrected the impression.

    https://twitter.com/WWTBAM/status/879323572354920449

    When contacted why MTN pulled out of the show, Edoho simply said “they don’t have to” give any reason for pulling out.

    The organizers, however, expressed gratitude to the telecoms firm for sponsoring the show so far.

    “We thank you for being with us through the 13-year-journey of enriching and impacting the lives of Nigerians. We wouldn’t have been able to enrich so many Nigerians without the help of our sponsor @MTNNG So we say THANK YOU!” the organizers tweeted.

    https://twitter.com/WWTBAM/status/879065409328226304

    https://twitter.com/WWTBAM/status/879065661762408448

    However, the notice announcing the suspension of the show states that the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire app will continue to reward players.

    “The WWTBAM App will continue to reward players, and winners will still get weekly prizes of N5,000 x 5 players and monthly cash prize of N20,000 for the top player each month.

    “While the show is on break, top players will only win cash and will not be invited to play in the hot seat until the TV show resumes,” the notice stated.