By NIyi Jacobs
MTN Group is set to spin off its financial technology operations in Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda in the first half of 2025 as part of a reorganization to allow Mastercard Inc. to acquire a minority stake in the units. MTN CEO Ralph Mupita disclosed this on Monday during an interview with Bloomberg.
The spin-off is essential to finalize a deal struck with Mastercard in 2023, which values MTN’s fintech business at $5.2 billion. Mastercard is expected to acquire a stake worth up to $200 million. MTN and Mastercard had previously signed a commercial agreement and a memorandum of understanding to support the growth of the fintech business’s payments and remittance services.
According to Mupita, the process is more advanced in Uganda and Ghana, while Nigeria presents more regulatory challenges. “Nigeria has a bit more complexity with some more regulatory processes to work through,” he noted.
Despite these hurdles, MTN remains committed to completing the reorganization across all three markets. Alongside its fintech ambitions, the company is also exploring network-sharing agreements to optimize infrastructure costs and enhance service delivery.
MTN, Africa’s largest telecom provider by sales, reported a loss of 9.59 billion rand for 2024, lower than the estimated loss of 3.87 billion rand. The company declared a dividend of 3.45 rand per share for 2024 and aims to increase the payout to at least 3.70 rand per share in the current financial year, demonstrating confidence in its growth prospects.
