10 December 2021

South Africa’s MTN Group has officially begun its exit from Yemen by transferring its majority stake in its Yemeni arm to Emerald International Investment, a subsidiary of Zubair Investment Center.

Ralph Mupita, MTN Group’s chief executive officer, said that “the decision to exit Yemen was driven by a need to simplify the portfolio and focus our limited resources on executing a pan-African strategy”. He made a point of “thanking MTN Yemen’s 719 employees for their commitment over the years, and MTN Yemen’s 4.7 million subscribers for their loyalty and trust in the brand”.

MTN announced its intention to exit the Middle East in the medium term in August to simplify its portfolio, reduce risk and focus on its pan-African strategy. In its financial report published for the first half of 2021, the firm said the choice to exit Yemen was linked to the political environment and the risk of sanctions in the country.

In the first half of 2021, MTN Yemen contributed 0.3% to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). MTN Group, which held 82.8% of the shares, explained that it does not expect to recover any of its investment in MTN Yemen through ongoing operations until the exit date.

Zubair Investment Center is a subsidiary of Zubair Corporation a company operating in several business sectors including energy, engineering, construction, logistics and a minority shareholder in MTN Yemen.