MTN Group Ltd. Executive Chairman
Phuthuma Nhleko, who returned to lead the
African wireless company’s negotiations over
a record $3.9 billion fine in Nigeria, is moving
forward with plans to step down next month,
according to a person familiar with the matter,
a sign he’s confident a resolution will be
reached by then.
Nhleko won’t return to a non-executive role
before he comes to an agreement with the
Nigerian Attorney General, said the person,
who asked not to be identified because the
plans are private. The chairman took the
executive position on a six-month basis in
November in order to “proactively deal” with
the Nigerian authorities after Chief Executive
Officer Sifiso Dabengwa resigned, Nhleko said
at the time.
The plan for an on-time departure provides a
ray of clarity, however thin, into a murky,
months-long crisis that’s gutted the share
value of Johannesburg-based MTN by one-
third. Getting it solved has been the top
priority of Nhleko, who ran MTN as CEO for
almost nine years until 2011. The company
proposed a $1.5 billion package last month
that included 150 billion naira ($754 million)
in cash alongside other incentives. The
Nigerian government hasn’t formally
responded, though some lawmakers have
called for even bigger fines.
MTN spokesman Chris Maroleng didn’t
immediately respond to a phone call seeking
comment and asked for e-mailed questions. A
spokesman for the Nigerian Attorney General
said he was preparing a statement, without
saying what it would contain.
Unregistered Subscribers
MTN was hit by the penalty in October for
missing a government-imposed deadline to
disconnect 5.1 million subscribers who had
been declared unregistered in the country
following a crackdown on security. The fine
was later reduced by 25 percent from an
original $5.2 billion. While the lower amount
equates to almost three times MTN’s 2015 net
income, a spokesman for the West African
country’s House of Representatives said last
month the original levy should be doubled to
$10 billion.
MTN shares have declined 33 percent since the
penalty was made public on Oct. 26, valuing
the company at 236 billion rand ($16 billion).
The shares declined 0.6 percent to 127.99 rand
as of 3:41 p.m. in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
Nigeria has been fighting an Islamist
insurgency led by the Boko Haram group, who
have killed at least 20,000 people in their
campaign to bring Sharia law to Africa’s
largest economy. MTN is Nigeria’s largest
mobile-phone company with more than 61
million subscribers, about a third of the
population.
No comments:
Post a Comment