MTN Group has agreed to sell its towers businesses in Ghana and Uganda amid plans to shed off some of its ventures and focus on high-growth markets in Africa and in the Middle East, Reuters reports.
The sales of the interest will be part of a three-year 15 billion rand ($1.00 billion) divestment plan by MTN which kicked off in March 2019.
MTN said it had agreed to sell its 49 percent holdings in Ghana Tower Interco B.V. and Uganda Tower Interco B.V. to AT Sher Netherlands Coöperatief U.A. for $523 million in Q1 2020 leaving MTN with a profit of 6 billion rand ($425.74 million), Reuters reported.
The Telco has late last year said it was in advanced discussions to dispose of its 49 percent stake in ATC Ghana and ATC Uganda which amounts to around 7 billion rand and 8 billion rand each.
MTN says it has also finalized the redemption of MTN Nigeria preference shares, raising $315 million which would be used to pay down its US dollar-denominated debt and for general corporate purposes.
“We remain focused on continuing to execute on the important strategic priorities of reducing debt, simplifying the portfolio and reducing risk,” MTN group said in a statement.
Concerning its divestment plan, MTN has already raked in $140 million from asset sales in the first half of 2019, some which include a sell down its interest in Jumia Technologies to 18.9 percent from 29.7 percent through an IPO of the e-commerce business in London.
MTN Group had in October 2019 said it would no longer be proceeding with plans to sell its stake in Bostwana’s Mascom Wireless after certain conditions to the transaction were not met but it mentioned the possibility of a deal if conditions are met in the future.
