The Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, yesterday admitted Airtel Africa Plc on its daily official list by way of cross border secondary listing of 3.75 billion ordinary shares at an offer price of N363 per ordinary share.
Consequently, after the day’s trading the market capitalisation, which represents the worth of investments on the Exchange, went up by N1.4 trillion or 10.7 percent to close at N14.3 trillion from N12.3 billion it closed the previous day, according to Vanguard.
The shares of Airtel were listed on the Main Board of the Exchange and at 80 pence per ordinary share on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, the primary listing exchange.
Airtel unveils 4G LTE network in Lagos(Opens in a new browser tab) In the same vein, the NSE All Share Index went up by 0.1 percent to settle at 29,318.85 points from 29,287.87 points.
Commenting on the listing, Mr. Oscar Onyema, Chief Executive Officer, NSE, commended Airtel Africa for taking the bold step to list on the Exchange. He said: “Listing on the Exchange reaffirms Airtel Africa’s long-term commitment to expanding opportunities and providing everyday services to Africans and Nigerians in particular.
It also indicates the firm’s belief that our platform, which has a total market capitalization of N25.20 trillion across various asset classes, remains a veritable avenue for raising capital and enabling sustainable national growth.
This listing serves to deepen the telecoms and technology sector for investors and provides an opportunity for a wider group of Nigerians to be part of the African telecoms growth story.
“Today’s listing is a promising development in Africa with Airtel Africa being the second company to have its ordinary shares listed on both the London Stock Exchange and the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
This gives credence to the successful partnership between the two exchanges. I encourage similar situated companies to explore the different opportunities for raising capital on the Exchange’s platform.” Meanwhile, performance across sectors on the NSE was negative as five indices closed in the red.
The Banking and Oil & Gas indices led decliners, shedding 2.2 percent and 0.7 percent respectively, following sell offs in Guaranty Trust Bank (-3.0 percent), Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, ETI (-8.7 percent), Forte Oil (-5.4 percent) and Conoil (-6.9 percent).
Also, losses in Dangote Cement (-1.3 percent) and WAPIC (-7.0 percent) drove a 0.5 percent decline in the Industrial Goods and Insurance indices respectively. The Consumer Goods index trailed, down 0.4 percent as a result of sell pressures in Dangote Sugar (-8.3 percent ), PZ (-5.8 percent ) and Flour Mill (-1.8 percent.)