Nigeria-focused towerco IHS shared the terms of its Nasdaq listing on Monday, with the current price expected to land between $21 and $24 per share. The company is offering 22.5 million ordinary shares, of which 18 million are being offered by IHS Towers and 4.5 million are being offered by certain selling shareholders.
It puts the Goldman Sachs-backed IHS on track for a US$6.9 billion to $7.9 billion valuation, which would make it one of Africa’s largest US go-public deals ever. Its F1 document relating to the IPO has been submitted but has not yet become effective.
Meanwhile MTN Uganda's IPO on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) has been approved and is expected to raise about $1.2 billion according to Keith Kalyegira, CEO of regulator the Capital Markets Authority.
MTN Uganda – which is 96% owned by MTN Group – has received approval to sell 20% of the company on the USE.
MTN Group vice president for Southern and East Africa Yolanda Cuba said: “Over the last 23 years, the people of Uganda have embraced MTN as their own and given us the legitimacy to operate throughout this country. We are reciprocating by inviting Ugandans to share in the ownership of the success that we have built together.”
MTN Uganda chairperson Charles Mbire added: “It is a reaffirmation of our long-term commitment to expand investment opportunities for Ugandans and we look forward to continuing our engagement with the CMA and USE to take forward the IPO and the listing.”
In turn, MTN's mobile money has been leveraged by USE to democratise access to the stock exchange. In September, USE's Securities Depository launched a digital account opening platform in partnership with MTN Mobile Money.
