MTN to spin off fintech units in Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda for Mastercard stake

This move is part of a broader reorganization that will enable Mastercard Inc. to acquire a minority stake in these high-growth units.

MTN CEO Ralph Mupita disclosed this on Monday during an interview with Bloomberg.

The telecommunications giant is required to separate its fintech businesses in these three markets to finalize a deal struck with Mastercard in 2023.

While the spin-off processes are more advanced in Uganda and Ghana, Nigeria presents additional regulatory complexities.

Mupita noted that Nigeria has “a bit more complexity with some more regulatory processes to work through.” 

The deal with Mastercard values MTN’s fintech unit at $5.2billion, with the payments giant expected to acquire a stake worth up to $200 million.

Announcing the acquisition deal in 2023 alongside signing of a commercial agreement with Mastercard, MTN said:

“Following the bespoke process to identify and potentially introduce strategic minority investors into MTN Group Fintech, we executed commercial agreements with Mastercard to support the acceleration and growth of our fintech business’s payments and remittance services.

“MTN and Mastercard also signed a memorandum of understanding which provides for a minority investment by Mastercard into Group Fintech based on a total enterprise valuation of about US$5.2 billion for the business on a cash and debt-free basis. 

“The signing of the definitive investment agreements is expected to occur in the very near term as we approach the finalization of customary due diligence. The closing of the investment will be subject to customary closing conditions.”

MTN, Africa’s largest telecommunications provider by sales, released its financial results for the full-year ended December 31, 2024, posting a loss of 9.59 billion rand for 2024, lower than the estimated loss of 3.87 billion rand.