MTN Group Ltd. appointed units of Citigroup Inc. and Standard Bank Group Ltd. as advisers on a planned listing of the wireless company’s Nigeria business on the country’s local stock exchange, part of a deal struck with the West African nation’s government to settle a record fine.
Africa’s biggest mobile-phone operator is targeting a listing of the Nigeria unit in 2017, “subject to suitable market conditions,” the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement on Thursday.
Stanbic IBTC Capital, the Nigerian arm of Johannesburg-based Standard Bank, will be the lead issuing house, while a full syndicate including Nigerian parties will be appointed in due course.
MTN agreed to list the unit in Nigeria, the company’s biggest market, as part of a deal to pay a 330 billion naira ($1 billion) fine in cash to the Nigerian government for missing a deadline to disconnect unregistered subscribers.
