20 April 2020

MTN plans to reduce its shares in its Nigerian subsidiary, according to the group’s chief financial officer.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Ralph Mupita, revealed that the South African telecom giant, which holds 79% of, shares intends to sell 15%. This transaction, which will be aimed at local investors, will bring MTN Group’s stake in MTN Nigeria to 64%, which has been listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) since last year. The reduction in shares in MTN Nigeria is also part of the asset realisation program (ARP), launched in March 2019 by the group, whose objective is to reduce debt, simplify their portfolio, reduce risks, an improvement in their returns and the realisation of a capital of at least R15bn over three years.

Several operations have already been carried out by the group with this in mind, notably the sale of its interests in ATC Ghana to American Tower Corporation for 900 million rand, the sale of its stakes in the investment fund Amadeus and its associated stake in Travelstart, the sale of MTN Group’s 49% stake in Ghana Tower Interco BV and Uganda Tower Interco BV to AT Sher Netherlands Cooperatief U.A. MTN Nigeria currently represents an indispensable market for the group. At the end of the financial year ended December 31, 2019, the subsidiary represented a contribution of 30.77% to the group’s income, which amounted to R151.5bn