Mascom founder Strive Masiyiwa is the “secret”
partner to whom MTN wants to sell its stake in the mobile operator,
BusinessWeek reported. The proposed deal has reportedly displeased sections of
the Mascom board, which is dominated by representatives of the Botswana Public
Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF).
Bloomberg reported on 05 March that MTN’s stake, acquired in
2005, is about 53 percent and worth up to BWP 3.2 billion. Bloomberg did not
report the identity of the proposed purchaser of the shares.
Mascom’s shareholding is a complex affair and available
information indicates that while the BPOPF holds the majority directly, MTN is
in the majority indirectly, said BusinessWeek. Mascom is one of the pension
fund’s most lucrative investments, with a value of BWP 1.6 billion in 2015/16.
Masiyiwa founded Mascom in 1998, giving it his surname,
before gradually selling off his direct and indirect interests. Any remaining
interest is reported to be minimal. Bloomberg reported that MTN group CEO Rob
Shuter had previously expressed his desire to see MTN reduce the number of
countries in which it operates.
Sources close to the latest development said Masiyiwa’s
identity had been revealed at a recent board meeting when MTN directors briefed
their BPOPF peers on the plan to divest from Mascom. The source said MTN
directors recently told the board that they had been approached with a buy-out
offer by an investor and that they were interested in offloading their
shareholding to that investor.
In addition, directors raised questions about the valuation
of the proposed deal and said a due diligence would have to be conducted before
any disposal process began.
