MTN Group Ltd is exploring a sale of shares in African online retailer Jumia and values the company at as much as $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n
Africa\u2019s largest wireless carrier is considering an initial public offering of the Amazon.com Inc-style business on the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange, said the people, who asked not to be named as the information isn\u2019t public.<\/p>\n
Johannesburg-based MTN is the biggest shareholder in Jumia with a 40% stake, and smaller investors including German startup backer Rocket Internet SE are also open to selling stock, they said.<\/p>\n
Another option under consideration is a private sale of shares to new investors, according to the people. Jumia currently has an estimated enterprise value of about $1 billion, they said, and has grown sales by between 70% and 90% annually since its inception in 2012.<\/p>\n
MTN \u201ccurrently has no plans to dispose of its investment in Jumia in the short term,\u201d a spokeswoman said in emailed comments Thursday.<\/p>\n
Jumia and Rocket declined to comment.<\/p>\n
Africa E-Commerce<\/strong><\/p>\n Jumia was set up by French entrepreneurs Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara in Lagos, Nigeria\u2019s commercial capital, to take advantage of rising internet use in Africa and a lack of availability of consumer-goods items such as designer watches and sunglasses.<\/p>\n It has grown to have e-commerce operations in 14 African countries, and has added platforms for online hotel bookings and food delivery.<\/p>\n A successful listing could help MTN reduce debt, which increased to R69.8 billion ($4.8 billion) as of the end of June, compared with R57.1 billion six months earlier.<\/p>\n The rising liabilities contributed to a share-price slump when the carrier reported half-year earnings last week. The stock has fallen 27% this year, close to eight-year lows, valuing the company at R190 billion.<\/p>\n MTN operates in 21 countries across Africa and the Middle East. Nigeria is its biggest market with about 55 million customers.<\/p>\n Only about a third of Africa\u2019s 1.2 billion people have access to the internet, providing plenty of potential growth for Jumia as a listed company, said one of the people.<\/p>\n Other Jumia shareholders include Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Millicom International Cellular SA and Orange SA.<\/p>\n
\n