* Shares climb 10% in initial trading
* $2 bln Nigeria tax dispute holds back further share sales
* Nigeria produces a third of S.African parent's profit
(Recasts)
By Nneka Chile and Libby George
LAGOS, May 16 (Reuters) - MTN Nigeria MTNN.LG , owned by
South Africa's MTN Group MTNJ.J , listed in Lagos on Thursday
in a 2 trillion naira ($6.54 billion) flotation turning the
telecoms company into the exchange's second-largest stock by
market value.
MTN Nigeria's shares climbed 10 percent from their listing
price of 90 naira after the float went live.
The company, which had 52.3 million users in Nigeria as of
2017, has had fraught relations with the Nigerian authorities,
including disputes over SIM cards and tax payments.
The listing follows MTN Group's agreement with Nigerian
regulators to settle most of those long-running disputes.
However, the company is still in the middle of a $2 billion
tax row with Nigeria's attorney general, which the company says
is delaying a further sale of shares and a public offering.
Once that matter is resolved, MTN will sell more shares to
the public, and seek to increase local ownership of MTN Nigeria
to 35% from the current roughly 20%, its finance chief told
investors in Lagos earlier on Thursday, according to two of
those investors.
Just before the flotation, parent MTN Group owned 78.8% of
the Nigerian business. MTN Nigeria accounts for a third of the
Johannesburg parent's core profit.
($1 = 305.9000 naira)