The Nigerian Stock Exchange has granted a listing waiver to Airtel Africa Plc as the company did not meet the minimum requirement of 300 shareholders as of the day the listing was approved by the National Council of the Exchange.
The NSE said in a circular on Thursday that Airtel Africa, the parent company of Airtel Nigeria, would be listing through a cross border secondary listing at N363 per share, following an Initial Public Offering by way of book building.
Secondary listing arises when securities already listed on a primary exchange are subsequently listed on other securities exchanges. The issuer is not subjected to the full requirements applicable to listing on the other securities exchange(s) at which it seeks a secondary listing.
In this case, Airtel Africa’s primary listing exchange is the London Stock Exchange while the NSE is the secondary listing exchange.
The NSE said Airtel Africa Plc would be listed on the Main Board of the Exchnage, subject to regulatory approvals.
It said Airtel, through an IPO by way of book building, issued 39,227,968 ordinary shares of $0.50 each at N363 per share in Nigeria and 637,178,959 ordinary shares of $0.50 each at £0.80 per share in London.
“The company is, however, listing its entire issued share capital of 3,758,151,504 ordinary shares at $0.5 per share on the LSE and NSE. The value of the total shares to be listed in Nigeria is N1.36tn, based on the listing price of N363,” the NSE said.
The circular read in part, “The book building was at an offer price range of 80 pence and 100 pence per ordinary share and is to be admitted to the premium listing segment of the official list of the Financial Conduct Authority and to trading on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.
“In Nigeria, a price range of N363 and N454 per ordinary share was offered to qualified institutional and high net worth investors as defined in Rule 321 of Rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria.”
It added that the free float of the company was computed as the percentage of shareholders holding less than five per cent of the company’s issued share capital with no representation on the board.
According to the NSE, the free float of Airtel across the LSE and the NSE at the close of the book building is about 25 per cent.
It noted that because Airtel had a secondary listing status on the NSE, it would be required to comply with the rules of its place of primary listing, as well as such other rules of the NSE as may be applicable.
“Having two big telecommunications companies in our market is a testament of the Exchange’s commitment to building a dynamic and inclusive market and creating channels for sustainable investment,” the bourse said.
It added, “These listings create telecoms and technology asset class for investors and provide opportunities for a wider group of Nigerians to be part of the Nigerian telecom growth story.”