MTN To Raise N330bn Loan To Pay Fine
The MTN Group has announced plans to meet fixed-income investors in the United Kingdom and the United States of America to gauge interest in a possible offering of dollar-denominated bonds sales.
The Africa’s biggest Mobile network has mandated Barclays Bank, Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and Standard Bank Group to arrange a series of fixed-income investor meetings starting on 9 September, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement yesterday.
The bond offering “is expected to follow subject to market conditions,” the carrier said.
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MTN’s move to attract funding comes after the company reported its first-ever half-year loss earlier this month, partly caused by an agreement to settle a record N330bn fine by Nigerian regulators.
The subscriber base of 233m didn’t grow during the six months to June, while MTN is struggling to repatriate R15,4bn it has tied up in its Iranian unit.
The shares fell by 2,6% to R117,58 at 2.01pm in Johannesburg, the lowest price since January. They have declined by about 38 per cent since 26 October, when the Nigeria fine was first reported.
MTN issued a $750m note in 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It matures in 2024.
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Recall on the 11th of June, MTN Nigeria resolved with the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) to settle their differences over the $3.4 billion (N1.04 trillion) fine imposed on the telecoms firm in October 2015.
After nearly six months of negotiation, both sides have agreed that MTN should pay only N330 billion from the N780 billion it was earlier reduced to.
