BY: Justice Godfry
MTN Nigeria Communications PLC (MTN Nigeria) has confirmed that they received a letter on May 23, 2019 from The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) requesting information and documentation related to the listing of the shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), according to TechEconomy.ng report.
News broke Friday evening, May 24, 2019, that EFCC operatives arrived the Corporate Head Office of MTN Nigeria in Lagos to query some top officials and not unconnected with the recently share listing of MTN on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
The South African telecommunications firm had listed by introduction, 20.4 billion ordinary shares at N90 on the NSE.
However, MTN Nigeria in the statement available to TechEconomy.ng, denied that it has not been accused of any wrongdoing by the EFCC.
The MTN’s statement titled, “Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Investigation and Information Request”, which was signed by the Company Secretary, Uto Ukpanah, further reads: “We wish to reiterate that we received all regulatory approvals required to list our shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, as publicly confirmed by The Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“As a law abiding and responsible corporate citizen, they are co-operating fully with the authorities.
“We are committed to good governance and to abiding by the extant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”, the Statement reads.
Recall that since the listing, there have been reports of scarcity of the shares and alleged manipulation.
Stock brokers decried the inability of retail investors to have access to the shares of MTN Nigeria on the floor of the NSE.
A representative of minority shareholders, Boniface Okezie, was reported to have said that: “Shareholders are not happy because we could not buy their shares; it was not available and we don’t share in all the excitement going around.”
The capital market regulators have also been accused of conniving with MTN Nigeria Plc to allegedly manipulate the performance of the telecom firm’s share price at the exchange.
Specifically, they argued that by allowing MTN a free float of only 5.542 million shares admitted for trading at N90/share worth N498 million when it listed by way of introduction on The NSE, rather than unbundling all the units of shares in its holding, the managers might have unwittingly created a situation of scarcity in the market.
Under the terms, “the free float requirement for companies on the Alternative Securities Market (ASEM) board is 15 per cent of market capitalisation while 20 percent is prescribed for companies listed on the main board and also premium board is 20 per cent of market capitalisation or above N40 billion on the date the exchange receives the issuer’s application.”
Source: Techeconomy.ng