MTN Exits Another Country

MTN Exits Another Country

MTN Group said it has concluded the sale of its Guinea operations to the State of Guinea, marking its final exit from the market.

According to a statement from the Group, the sale was concluded on December 30, 2024.

MTN said the transaction aligns with its focus on portfolio optimization and simplification, as part of the Ambition 2025 strategy.

Commenting on the sale of the business, MTN Group President and CEO, Ralph Mupita, stated:

“This milestone marks a new phase for MTN Guinea-Conakry under local ownership, and MTN thanks the staff, customers, regulators and broader stakeholders in Guinea for the support during the time MTN has been operational in the country.

Concluding this transaction is in line with the strategy to simplify the portfolio and allocating capital to markets where we can make a difference as MTN and deliver long-term growth and returns.”

The decision to exit the Guinea market stems from MTN’s assessment of portfolio fit within its risk management framework.

Speaking to the media in Johannesburg in August 2024, Mupita explained the group’s rationale for disposing of operations in Guinea-Conakry and Guinea-Bissau.

Given our risk management framework and the things we need, some markets are very difficult. We’re not the best owners of those businesses because they’re subscale or they’re small, and they are not going to be able to fund their own growth,” Mupita shared in remarks reported by Connecting Africa.

He elaborated that the group evaluates each market’s ability to fund its own growth sustainably.

According to him, the moment a business sustainably cannot fund its own growth for whatever reason, “we have to assess portfolio fit—yes or no.”

He noted that they were difficult decisions to make because “they involve colleagues, but they are necessary all the same.”

For Guinea-Conakry and Guinea-Bissau, the group determined that even with significant growth in revenue or profits, MTN was not the best owner of these operations.

“We looked at them and said, even if they triple their revenue or their profits, are we the best owners of these businesses? And the answer was no, so we said let’s engage with third parties,” Mupita stated.

In its full year for 2023 released in March 2024, the group confirmed it had signed a sale and purchase agreement with Pan-African operator, Telecel, for a consideration of US$1 for each of its operations in Guinea-Conakry and Guinea-Bissau.

“MTN and Telecel entered into a share purchase agreement for the acquisition of MTN’s equity interests in MTN Guinea-Bissau and MTN Guinea-Conakry.

“The agreement was reached in December 2023 and is subject to a number of conditions precedent,” the company had stated.

Both the Guinea businesses were in net liability positions and Telecel was to pick up those net liabilities as they take over.

However, in its half year results released in August 2024, MTN confirmed that Guinea-Bissau operation had been sold to Telecel Group, leaving Guinea Conakry.