What’s Next After Buying MTN Shares?
Hi! If you’re reading this, I guess that means that you’re interested in Ghana’s biggest Telco at the time of this writing: MTN Ghana — and you’re also keen on owning a part of the firm. What I’m going to do with today’s article is to quickly give you a recap of the just ended MTN IPO as well as an overview of how the immediate future is going to play out for you as a shareholder or hungry investor. And just in case you didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to buy some MTN shares, I have some good news for you somewhere in this story, so stick around. Once again, I’ll write this with less formality and strip this post of as much financial jargon as I can. The aim of this story is not to flex financial intelligence but to attempt to communicate a part of this historic experience.
So MTN Ghana had its much awaited IPO this year! Awesome! (Check out this story of mine [1] that explains more about IPOs.) The plan was to raise up to GHc3.47bn — equivalent to 35% of the company’s current value. The shares sold for 0.75p per share and could be bought in multiples of 10 between 29th of May to the 31st of July 2018. Soon, we’d get to know how well IC Securities and MTN Ghana did in raising that capital for the firm. We also know that the MTN Group had to do this as part of requirements from taking up a 4G license from the NCA. The second and more important reason, in the words of IC Securities’ CEO Mr. Kwabena Osei-Boateng, “is to encourage and invite Ghanaians into the shareholding of MTN Ghana.”[2] And that’s really good! Ghanaian companies should be owned by Ghanaian people. (We will pretend that we didn’t know that KOSMOS Energy listed on the London Stock Exchange last year instead of here. But hey, they really did have good reason for that. Should I share some insights on KOSMOS Energy’s IPO? Leave your answer in the comments section.)
This IPO was an interesting one. Banking became a stronger family — amidst the daunting challenge for our financial institutions to meet the minimum capital requirements of the SEC and the Bank of Ghana: it was interesting to see commercial and investment banks working together all over the country to ensure that every Ghanaian had the opportunity to own a share of the telecoms giant. GCB missed out on the action! Too bad. It was in this time that I also realized that most of the investment banks in Ghana are based in Accra. That tells me a lot! However, I’m not here to share those insights. (Self, focus on the story!) I do hope that this changes though.
The marketing on this IPO was super. Mr. Osei-Boateng truly meant what he said at the launch of the IPO when he mentioned that between IC Securities Ghana, MTN Ghana and other stakeholders, “there is a lot being done in marketing to ensure that this is being heard, seen and is available to everyone across the country.”[2] We had ads for MTN’s shares on billboards, screens, TV, radio and more. The news from this triggered one of the most powerful forms of marketing: word of mouth. “Buy your MTN Ghana shares” became one of the hottest phrases within the last two months — even among the diaspora. Fantastic!
We also saw something interesting during this time. In the midst of the IPO, there was little restructuring of leadership. It was rather audacious of MTN to do so in this time but it was dead easy since that was good news: Mr. Ebenezer Asante stepped down as CEO of the MTN Ghana and was succeeded by Mr. Selorm Adadevoh as the telecoms giant’s new CEO.[3] Mr. Asante is now the Vice President of the entire MTN Group. Congrats to him!!! I got to meet Mr. Adadevoh in July through a mutual friend and I must say after learning more about him and meeting him myself, that MTN Ghana is in safe hands. Mr. Adadevoh is a experienced businessman with a tactical engineering prowess and a big heart.
The MTN Ghana share offer may be over but this won’t be the last you’ll hear of MTN shares. The next phase is an allotment process to new shareholders which has begun. The group has promised to continue providing innovative ways for Ghanaians to trade their MTN Ghana shares just as they were able to buy them: Online/USSD and payments with mobile money, card or via a broker like IC Securities, Databank or SBG Securities. (Those are my top 3 brokers by the way.) That means, that very soon, when MTN Ghana lists on the Ghana Stock Exchange, you will be able to buy more shares or sell your holdings in the firm. And so if you wished you’d bought more shares or if think you made a wrong decision of buying shares, there’s no need to cry. Trading of MTN shares starts soon! It’s worth noting that MTN Nigeria is also expected to list some time this year.
These are exciting times for Ghana. A lot of times, most people don’t give credit to the firm that runs the whole show: IC Securities (Ghana) Limited. But this is one institution that is less concerned about making noise and more interested in making news. The 17-year old firm has been in the business of raising capital for companies in and out of Ghana for over a decade. Notable clients of IC Securities include CAL Bank, Guiness Ghana Breweries, Fidelity Bank, Vanguard Assurance, ADB, AFB, Genser Energy, The Ministry of Finance, Ghana Home Loans and many others. Check out http://icsecurities.com to learn more about the firm. Isn’t it interesting that with all these achievements, you’ve never seen an IC Securities’ billboard? Hmmmm.[4]
So this is where I’ll stop my writing. There’s a lot more to say about the IPO offer but I’ll leave that to our professional journalists who, I suppose, are currently pulling strings (and maybe their hair) to get the right information to us all. I hope they get the details about the future of the share offer right this time round. News is good when it’s accurate.
Let me advertise myself real quick: if you need a product to be built or you wanna move from idea to business via technology, or you just need some business and technical advice, I’m your guy. I work with very smart and diligent people who can make your dreams come true. Let’s get in touch. If you’re not convinced I can do it, check out my LinkedIn profile. Till next time.
Show some love. Leave a comment. What do you think about MTN Ghana’s IPO? I’d like to hear from you concerning this story.
References:
[1] Dare, Chris. “What’s an IPO and Why Should You Care? — Chris Dare🔥 — Medium.” Medium, 16 Mar. 2018, medium.com/@chrisdare/whats-an-ipo-and-why-should-you-care-7002baa835c.
[2] MyJoyonline TV. “MTN Ghana Share Offer Launched — The Market Place on Joy News (29–5–18).” YouTube, YouTube, 29 May 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WHtQPgfrvE.
[3] Citi Business News. “Selorm Adadevoh Is MTN Ghana New CEO.” Citi Newsroom, 19 June 2018, citinewsroom.com/2018/06/19/selorm-adadevoh-is-mtn-ghana-new-ceo/.
[4] “IC Securities — Transactions and Financial Advisory .” IC Securities, IC Securities Ghana Limited, www.icsecurities.com/transactions.html.
