The head of Corporate Communications at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Efe Ebelo, speaks with The Interview on MTN’s intention to list the company’s shares:
MTN just applied to enlist it shares on the stock exchange. Is there a date that has been set for this to happen?
I won’t be able to disclose that to you. They have submitted an application and we are working on it. This involves a process. Once we concluded it, we will give information out to the public.
Then, is it correct to say that the Securities and Exchange Commission is holding up the listing?
Once you apply to SEC, it takes a process. If it is successful, the rest is left to MTN. They just sent the application to us last week Thursday.
So, we have just worked for one day. This is the second day. We will try to give a decision as quickly as possible. The length of the process is not cast in stone.
If you submit an application, there are other supporting documents you are supposed to submit along with it. If everything is in order, the turn around time will be short.
But if everything is not in order, we have to still come back to you and say you have not brought this, you have not brought that. But we always respond to applications as quickly as possible.
The decision to list was due to an understanding with the Nigerian Communication Commission. There was a similar agreement that played out in Ghana last year, where MTN put up 35 percent of its equity on the exchange. Will the Nigerian public be offered similar equity of the company?
At the stage where we are now, we will not be able to comment on that now. Maybe you should revert to NCC on what exactly their understanding with MTN is. They are in the best position to give further information on that.
