BY Oluseyi Awojulugbe
Ralph Mupita, MTN’s chief financial officer, says the recent sanctions placed on it by the Central Bank of Nigeria will make its planned listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange challenging.
CBN had ordered MTN to repatriate $8.1 billion claiming that the funds were taken outside the country without proper certification.
The attorney general of the federation has also requested that the company pay $2 billion in taxes.
The telco has denied any wrongdoing.
“We are not sitting here saying the listing is off. The listing is to remain on track,” he told CNBC Africa.
“It makes the IPO that we had planned pretty challenging and awkward but we have got to explore other options of continuing to meet the listing requirements.
“We are going to engage with a variety of authorities. We will seek engagements at the highest level in the central bank and AGF.”
Mupita said MTN will stay in Nigeria, adding that the company is looking forward to an amicable resolution of the matters.
Nigeria is MTN’s biggest market.
The listing was part of the conditions given by the government as part of the settlement of a previous fine placed on the company for failing to disconnect unregistered lines.
He said the company saw no connection between its present challenges in Nigeria and that fine.
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