On Thursday, December 3, 2020, shareholders of MTN Ghana at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) gave the Company the approval to buy back shares of some applicants.
Principle of Share buyback
“when a company buys its own outstanding shares to reduce the number of shares available on the open market. Companies buy back shares for a number of reasons, such as to increase the value of remaining shares available by reducing the supply or to prevent other shareholders from taking a controlling stake”.
MTN Ghana is applying the buyback principle to recover shares from applicants who failed to complete their personal information under the Company’s Initial Public Offer. The applicants will thus receive a refund of their initial purchasing money, and dividends accrued since the IPO.
“Although the majority of applicants were successful and were fully allotted their shares, there were some unsuccessful applicants who are yet to provide sufficient Know Your Customer (KYC) information despite several attempts to obtain this information. MTN Ghana has received approval from the Regulator, Securities, and Exchange Commission (SEC), and its shareholders to buy back the shares of applicants who failed to provide sufficient personal information to complete their KYC requirements under the Company’s Initial Public Offer,” a piece of information on their website read.
Final Appeal
MTN Ghana is however making a final appeal to applicants to complete their KYC information. According to the company, all applicants must complete their information. They are also to check the status of their account by visiting www.mtnghanashares.com to update their records, and upload a copy of their valid ID card beginning 25th January 2021 until 23rd February 2021. Once this process is complete, the applicant’s shares will be transferred to their Central Securities Depository (CSD) accounts.
Beyond the stipulated deadline which is 23rd February, applicants who fail to complete their information will be refunded the price at which they bought the shares, as well as dividends that have accrued to those shares, and their accounts will be closed.
Accepted ID cards for the completion of the exercise include a valid national passport, a driver’s license, a national ID, or a voter’s ID.
MTN Ghana was successfully listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange following the close of the MTN Ghana IPO on 31st July 2018. MTN Ghana commenced trading on 5th September 2018.
