MTN plans to meet international investors ahead of bond offering

Bloomberg: MTN Group Ltd. plans to meet fixed-income investors in the U.K. and the U.S. to gauge interest in a possible offering of dollar-denominated bonds by Africa’s biggest mobile-phone company by sales.

The wireless operator has mandated Barclays Bank Plc, Bank of America Corp’s Merrill Lynch, Citigroup Inc. and Standard Bank Group Ltd. to arrange a series of fixed-income investor meetings starting Sept. 9, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement on Wednesday. The bond offering “is expected to follow subject to market conditions,” the carrier said.

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 330 billion naira ($1 billion) fine by Nigerian regulators. The subscriber base of 233 million didn’t grow during the six months through June, while MTN is struggling to repatriate 15.4 billion rand ($1.1 billion) it has tied up in its Iran unit.

The shares fell 2.6 percent to 117.58 rand as of 2:01 p.m. in Johannesburg, the lowest price since January. They have declined about 38 percent since Oct. 26, when the Nigeria fine was first reported.

MTN issued a $750 million note in 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It matures in 2024.