Telecom
6.6m Nigerians Become MTN Shareholders as Telco Rakes in N111.75Bn from Offer
MTN Nigeria Communication Plc has said it now has 6.6 million Nigerians as direct or indirect shareholders as it made N111.75bn from its share offer to Nigerians.
The telecommunications company said this in a statement titled ‘Results of the series 1 offer for sale of MTN Nigeria Communications Plc ordinary shares, first public offer via digital platform in Nigeria’.
Uto Ukpanah, company secretary, MTN Nigeria stated that “The Offer was implemented by way of a bookbuild to qualified institutional investors and a fixed price offer to retail investors.
“The Offer was oversubscribed with valid applications for a total of 801.97 million units, leading to the activation of the approved 15% over-subscription clause of an additional 86.25 million MTN Nigeria shares.
“In all, 661.25 million MTN Nigeria shares were allotted. A total of 126,720 retail investors submitted valid applications and received full allotment; and institutional investors including pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers, corporates, and foreign portfolio investors that participated in the bookbuild were allotted 72.09% of their applications. This includes Nigerian pension funds representing approximately 6.5 million Nigerian contributors.
“Following the successful completion of the Offer, MTN Group’s shareholding in MTN Nigeria reduced by 3.25 percentage points, from 78.83% to 75.58%.
“In line with the innovative incentive structure of 1 free share for every 20 purchased, subject to a maximum of 250 free shares per investor, an additional 4.28 million MTN Nigeria shares will be allotted to qualifying investors who hold the shares allotted to them for 12 months till 31 January 2023”.
MTN Group adopted a unique structure in this offering by determining a fixed price of N169 per share for the retail offer through a Bookbuild to Qualified Investors that was completed on 26 November 2021.
The fixed price offer to Retail Investors was at a discount of 11% to the closing price of MTN Nigeria stock on the day the Bookbuild was completed. The Offer commenced on 1 December 2021 and was completed on 14 December 2021.
Nigerian investors across the country supported the Offer through multiple channels – Receiving Agents, Issuing Houses and PrimaryOffer (a digital application platform).
The Offer is a landmark transaction and a true reflection of Nigerian investor confidence in MTN Nigeria. It marks the first time a digital application platform was used to democratize investing in a public offer and maximize investor participation across the country.
More than 89% of retail offer subscribers applied through the Primary Offer platform (mobile and web), and 114,938 new Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) accounts were opened by first-time investors.
Ralph Mupita, CEO of MTN Group said: “We are pleased that this Offer has given so many Nigerians the opportunity to become owners of MTN Nigeria. With over 6.6 million Nigerians directly or indirectly becoming shareholders in MTN Nigeria, the objective of broadening the shareholder base, and creating shared value has been achieved.
“We are proud that our Offer was the first Nigerian public offer to use the digital application platform, PrimaryOffer, which enabled wider investor participation across Nigeria.
“We thank the Nigerian authorities for their support of this Offer. We remain committed to playing our humble role in driving digital and financial inclusion in Nigeria over the medium.”
Commenting on the Offer, Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria said: “We are delighted to welcome so many new shareholders to the MTN family, up 11.6 times from the number before the offer.
“It has been inspiring to see so many Nigerians, many of whom are young, acquire shares for the first time, and use a digital platform to do so.
“This is the beginning of a journey to broaden our shareholding and there will be more opportunities to participate.
“We are pleased with the level of digital innovation we championed with this offer with the active collaboration of our lead issuing house and the various regulatory bodies. Deepening retail participation in Nigeria’s capital markets is a process, and we are off to a great start, demonstrating the role digital platforms can play in expanding access.
“I am particularly pleased that we completed this transaction in an accelerated time frame ensuring new shareholders can realize value almost immediately through participation in our 2021 full-year dividend.
“I would specifically like to thank the Honorable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), the Nigerian Communications Commission and the wider Federal Government for the opportunity to execute this Offer.
“I thank the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Nigerian Exchange Limited, the CSCS, and all the parties involved for their support in delivering this ambitious Offer structure. I also appreciate our staff who worked tirelessly with our advisers on this project.
“Most of all I would like to thank our new shareholders for having confidence in us and in our future. We are delighted to have you on board for this journey to building a digital future together.”
Bolaji Balogun, CEO of Chapel Hill Denham, the Lead Issuing House said: “Chapel Hill Denham is honoured to have worked with MTN to complete Nigeria’s first digital and predominantly green offering.
“I wish to thank the SEC, the NGX, the CSCS, all the professional firms and other stakeholders, for delivering a big win for Nigeria’s capital markets in enabling the adoption of PrimaryOffer and this transaction marks a new and exciting future.
“Over 90% of subscribers to the Offer were first time participants in the capital markets and MTN Nigeria’s strong investment case made this possible.”
Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) CEO, Temi Popoola, CFA said: “NGX is proud to have worked with MTN Nigeria, Chapel Hill Denham and other parties to the transaction in advancing Nigeria’s capital market through the adoption of forward-looking technology.
“In the NGX era, we are resolute in our commitment to democratize finance in Nigeria in order to ensure every type of investor has access to public markets where they can invest in companies they believe in and reap value. With the digitised MTN Nigeria offering, we have made a tremendous stride in our plans for a full digital transformation of the Nigerian capital markets and we look forward to building on this.”
Central Securities Clearing System Plc CEO, Haruna Jalo-Waziri said: “We are excited to be part of the innovation brought by the Offer, which afforded the successful launch of PrimaryOffer digital application platform.
“This further buttresses the necessity for digital transformation, allowing market access for all categories of investors, including institutional and retail investors within and outside of the country.
“At CSCS, digital transformation has been the core of our strategic direction. We will continue to collaborate with our participants, issuers and other stakeholders to efficiently and effectively ease market access with innovative solutions through the investment cycle.”
Chapel Hill Denham Advisory Limited acted as Lead Issuing House and Bookrunner for the Offering, and Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria Limited, Renaissance Securities (Nigeria) Limited, Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited and Vetiva Capital Management Limited acted as Joint Issuing Houses and Joint Bookrunner.
Instagram is overhauling the way it works for teenagers, promising more “built-in protections” for young people and added controls and reassurance for parents.
The new “teen accounts” are being introduced from Tuesday in the UK, US, Canada and Australia.
They will turn many privacy settings on by default for all under 18s, including making their content unviewable to people who don’t follow them, and making them actively approve all new followers.
But children aged 13 to 15 will only be able to adjust the settings by adding a parent or guardian to their account.
Social media companies are under pressure worldwide to make their platforms safer, with concerns that not enough is being done to shield young people from harmful content.
UK children’s charity the NSPCC said Instagram’s announcement was a “step in the right direction”.
But it added that account settings can “put the emphasis on children and parents needing to keep themselves safe.”
Rani Govender, the NSPCC’s online child safety policy manager, said they “must be backed up by proactive measures that prevent harmful content and sexual abuse from proliferating Instagram in the first place”.
Meta describes the changes as a “new experience for teens, guided by parents”.
It says they will “better support parents and give them peace of mind that their teens are safe with the right protections in place.”
Ian Russell, whose daughter Molly viewed content about self-harm and suicide on Instagram before taking her life aged 14, told the BBC it was important to wait and see how the new policy was implemented.
“Whether it works or not we’ll only find out when the measures come into place,” he said.
“Meta is very good at drumming up PR and making these big announcements, but what they also have to be good at is being transparent and sharing how well their measures are working.”
Teen accounts will mostly change the way Instagram works for users between the ages of 13 and 15, with a number of settings turned on by default.
These include strict controls on sensitive content to prevent recommendations of potentially harmful material, and muted notifications overnight.
Accounts will also be set to private rather than public – meaning teenagers will have to actively accept new followers and their content cannot be viewed by people who don’t follow them.
InstagramParents who choose to supervise their child’s account will be able to see who they message and the topics they have said they are interested in – though they will not be able to view the content of messages.
However, media regulator Ofcom raised concerns in April over parents’ willingness to intervene to keep their children safe online.
In a talk last week, senior Meta executive Sir Nick Clegg said: “One of the things we do find… is that even when we build these controls, parents don’t use them.”
Age identification
The system will primarily rely on users being honest about their ages, but Instagram already uses tools to verify a user’s age if they are suspected to be lying about their age.
From January, in the US, it will use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to proactively detect teens using adult accounts, to put them back into a teen account.
The UK’s Online Safety Act, passed earlier this year, requires online platforms to take action to keep children safe, or face huge fines.
Ofcom warned social media sites in May they could be named, shamed or banned for under-18s if they fail to comply with its new rules.
Social media industry analyst Matt Navarra said Instagram’s changes were significant but hinged on enforcement.
“As we’ve seen with teens throughout history, in these sorts of scenarios, they will find a way around the blocks, if they can.”
Questions for Meta
Instagram is not the first platform to introduce such tools for parents – and already claims to have more than 50 tools aimed at keeping teens safe.
In 2022 it introduced a family centre and supervision tools for parents, letting them see accounts their child follows and who follows them, among other features.
Snapchat also introduced its own family centre allowing parents over the age of 25 see who their child is messaging and limit their ability to view certain content.
YouTube said in September it would limit recommendations of certain health and fitness videos to teenagers, such as those which “idealise” certain body types.
Instagram’s new measures raises the question of why, despite the large number of protections on the platform, young people are still exposed to harmful content.
An Ofcom study earlier this year found that every single child it spoke to had seen violent material online, with Instagram, WhatsApp and Snapchat being the most frequently named services they found it on.
Under the Online Safety Act, platforms will have to show they are committed to removing illegal content, including child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or content that promotes suicide or self-harm.
But the rules are not expected to fully take effect until 2025.
In Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently announced plans to ban social media for children by bringing in a new age limit for kids to use platforms.
Instagram’s latest tools put more control in the hands of parents, who will now take even more direct responsibility for deciding whether to allow their child greater freedom on Instagram and supervising their activity and interactions.
They will also need to have their own Instagram account.
But parents cannot control the algorithms which push content towards their children, or what is shared by its billions of users around the world.
Social media expert Paolo Pescatore said it was an “important step in safeguarding children’s access to the world of social media and fake news.”
“The smartphone has opened up to a world of disinformation, inappropriate content fuelling a change in behaviour among children,” he said.
“More needs to be done to improve children’s digital wellbeing and it starts by giving control back to parents.”
Telecom
Federal Ministry of Youth Development, NDPC Sign MOU to train 5,000 Youths on Data Protection
In line with the 8 Presidential Priorities and the Renewed Hope Agenda of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Federal Ministry of Youth Development and Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to train youths on Data Privacy and Protection.
In his remarks during the signing ceremony, the Hon. Minister of State for Youth Development, Engr. Ayodele Olawande, expressed optimism about the opportunities being created for jobs and wealth creation by NDPC under the leadership of the National Commissioner/CEO, Dr Vincent Olatunji.
“No less than 80% of human capital development under the administration of the President are targeted at youths and this initiative is aimed at equipping 5,000 youths with the requisite technical skills for new jobs in the data protection ecosystem,” the Hon Minister remarked.
Read Also: Privacy Protection is Now Right of Citizens —Olatunji, NDPC Boss
While explaining the importance of the training, Dr Olatunji emphasized the importance of building trust and confidence as Nigeria repositions her economy to attract foreign direct investment.
“Investors will be eager to do business in Nigeria if we are able to demonstrate accountability in relation to their data assets.
“There are at least 500,000 data controllers in Nigeria who are required to have at least one data protection officer each.
“Nigerian youths now have a great opportunity to become professionals to take up the estimated 500,000 new jobs in the ecosystem.
“In addition, we are also making sure that the subsequent certification will not be a burden on our foreign exchange.
Read Also: NDPC Boss Inaugurates Local Organising Committee for 2025 NADPA-RADPA Conference
“We have already licensed an in-country certification body who will issue globally recognized certificates to eligible trainees.” Dr. Olatunji stated.
On his part, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Youth Development, Mr. Olubunmi Olusanya, lauded NDPC for its quest on data privacy and protection and expressed the preparedness of the Ministry to set the necessary machinery in motion in order to make the collaboration a success.
Telecom
GSMA MWC Kigali 2024 to explore role of connectivity in driving socio-economic growth across Africa
GSMA MWC Kigali will return to the Kigali Convention Center from 29-31 October 2024.
MWC Kigali, Africa’s largest and most influential connectivity event, will convene powerful innovators and political leaders from across the entire continent, geared towards driving the digital economy forward and enabling socio-economic growth.
MWC Kigali will deliver a range of keynotes and panel sessions hosted by industry thought leaders and leading enterprises, focussed around the four event themes: Connected Continent, The AI Future, FinTech, and Africa’s Digital DNA.
Recently confirmed speakers include Airtel Africa’s CEO, Sunil Taldar; Amini’s Founder & CEO, Kate Kallot; the GSMA’s Director General, Mats Granryd; the ITU’s Secretary-General, Doreen Bogdan-Martin; Lelapa AI’s CEO and Co-founder, Pelonomi Moiloa; MTN Group’s FinTech CEO, Serigne Dioum; Republic of Rwanda’s Minister of ICT and Innovation, Hon. Paula Ingabire; Take Back the Mic’s CEO & Founder, Derrick Ashong and, Wi-Flix’s CEO, Louis Manu.
For the first time in Africa, the GSMA Ministerial Programme will be hosted at MWC Kigali, marking a new chapter in the commitment to advancing the digital agenda in Africa.
The programme will convene the most influential telecommunications leaders from across the African continent to discuss policy and regulatory topics key to the region.
The Mobile for Development (M4D) team will once again play a central role at the event, driving innovation in digital technology to reduce global inequalities. M4D will host the ‘Mobile for Development Theatre’, a dedicated space for keynote sessions, panels, and discussions.
Themes will range from AI for impact and humanitarian innovation, agriculture and climate, to digital inclusion and gender.
Also returning this year is the Mobile Money Leadership Forum, which will explore key trends and innovations in mobile financial services.
The MWC Kigali keynotes will cover some of Africa’s most pressing digital connectivity issues.
Keynote 1 will discuss how digital technologies are driving socio-economic development in Africa to address the continent’s unique challenges.
Keynote 2 will focus on the transformative potential of AI, including how it can drive sustainable and inclusive growth across Africa.
Keynote 3 will see speakers explore the rapid evolution of Africa’s Fintech landscape and the technologies impacting investment opportunities.
While Keynote 4 will explore how the evolving content landscape is allowing African content creators to be heard and celebrated globally.
An agenda of GSMA Summits will be hosted during the event, inviting industry leaders and policymakers to discover the issues affecting enterprises in areas from network security to diversity in tech:
The Security Summit will tackle the most pressing security challenges mobile network operators face today, in the context of a rapidly evolving cyber risk landscape.
The Digital Summit will explore the digital economy’s potential in Africa, exploring how digital technologies and policy reform can drive significant socio-economic growth in Africa.
The AI Summit will cover both the vast potential and the associated risks of AI technologies in Africa, as the technology’s prevalence grows in the global economy.
The 5G Summit will address the barriers preventing the technology’s widespread adoption and ways to unlock its potential for both enterprises and consumers.
The Diversity for Tech Summit will focus on the urgent need for greater disability inclusion in Africa’s tech sector, ensuring that people with disabilities have access to the tools and opportunities they need to succeed.
MWC Kigali is held alongside the Africa Health Tech Summit and FEWA (Future of Education and Work in Africa), offering an in-depth exploration of connectivity challenges and opportunities in the health and education sectors.
We are proud to have the support of our stellar line up of sponsors, exhibitors and event partners, including Africa CDC, Africa Union, Huawei, inABLE, MTN, the Republic of Rwanda, Smart Africa and ZTE.
For more information, follow our updates on the MWC Kigali Press Zone or visit www.mwckigali.com.
Accredited media are invited to register here for a complimentary pass, which is required for access to the press centre.
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