MTN in talks to sell West African assets to Axian

MTN is said to be in advanced talks to sell its assets in Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry to Axian Group. According to a Bloomberg report, both companies are currently negotiating the prices of the assets.

Theses three countries accounted for 1.6% of MTN’s revenue in 2022 but it seems they have been earmarked for sale as MTN is trimming its portfolio to focus on its more profitable assets in Nigeria and South Africa. MTN generated about 3 billion U.S. dollars in revenue in South Africa, and over 4.5 billion U.S. dollars in Nigeria.

MTN CEO Ralph Mupita has been evaluating its assets and has exited certain Middle Eastern businesses such as Afghanistan, Yemen and Syria. It is currently operational in 19 countries in the African continent.

AXIAN is a pan-African group that specializes in 5 business sectors with high growth potentials, namely: real estate, telecom, financial services, energy and innovation. It operates in 9 countries, across the Indian ocean and the African continent, and acts as these countries’ partner in their socio-economic transformation.

In 2022, Axian bought Millicom International Cellular’s Tanzanian operations. The firm’s telecommunications unit has invested in towers, undersea cables, data centers, financial technology as well as a number of phone operators in countries such as Madagascar and Senegal.  

According to people who provided the information to Bloomberg, the deal has not been finalised and there is no guarantee that a transaction will go ahead.

Both companies have also declined to make comment now.