Telecom giant MTN Nigeria has achieved a total of R14 billion in assets sales through its Asset Realisation Programme (ARP) last year. MTN Nigeria launched ARP in March 2019 to simply its portfolio and improve its general returns.
The proceeds from MTN’s asset sales comprises the group’s stake sale in ATC Ghana to American Tower for R900 million, a local media reported. Also, the company sold its investment fund in Amadeus and Travelstart for R1.2 billion, reaching a total of R2.1 billion in the beginning of the year.
MTN Group President and CEO Rob Shuter, said in a statement that MTN “will have realised proceeds of approximately R14 billion within the first 12 months of this programme.” He also added that the company realising the proceeds from asset sales is part of its major objective and further progress is anticipated in 2020.
In October last year, MTN Nigeria’s quarterly update showed that the company had agreed to dispose of 49 percent equity holdings in Ghana Tower Interco and Uganda Tower Interco for R7.3 billion.
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020. With that, MTN will gain profit on disposing R6 billion worth of assets.
According to recent reports, the company paid the Nigerian government a total of more than N1.7 trillion in taxes to date. MTN Nigeria has more than 61 million subscribers, based on the Nigerian Communications Commission’s data. It appears that more than 20 million Nigerians reside in areas where MTN is their only network provider, a local media report said.