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MTN’s largest shareholder, Public Investment Corp., is pushing for the restructuring of the leadership of the mobile-phone company to avoid the numerous regulatory, legal and political disputes on the continent.
The PIC took a 26 per cent stake in the South African firm in late November and used the opportunity to call for the replacement of the Board Chairman, Phuthuma Nhleko, sources told Bloomberg. It was gathered that Africa’s biggest fund manager, which is South African state-owned, also sent a letter to MTN demanding a board reorganisation, which resulted in the appointment of more politically-connected directors.
Only last month, the network operator announced Nhleko’s planned exit and replacement, along with other board changes in addition engaging a new group of prominent advisers.
According to Bloomberg, neither PIC, the core investor, nor Nhleko the exiting Chair volunteered comments on the issue when contacted.
Interactions with the PIC have been at the board level, MTN Chief Executive Officer, Rob Shuter, said in an interview in London last week.
“An important thing for them was on our board evolution,” he said. MTN’s media office didn’t comment further. The PIC was moved to act following a series of disputes in Nigeria, Iran, and Uganda, with the biggest fine of $5.2billion in Nigeria in October 2015, which was eventually settled for less than $1boillion after negotiations and was completely paid off on May 24, 2019.
