South African mobile operator MTN Group has agreed a 50 percent equity deal in MTN Cyprus, giving it full control over its Mediterranean presence.
Through its wholly owned subsidiary MTN Dubai the mobile giant will take the 50 percent stake of its local partner, Amaracos Holdings.
A statement from MTN said: “This transaction forms part of MTN Group’s strategy to consolidate its investments and will provide further opportunities to accelerate its product and service offerings to the Cypriot market.”
As of September 2012, MTN Cyprus has a 33 percent market share with 316,000 subscribers.
HumanIPO reported in December Pieter Verkade, formerly Chief Executive of MTN Cyprus, had been headhunted to take on the Chief Operating Officer role at MTN.
Sifiso Dabengwa, MTN Group Chief Executive, said: “MTN Cyprus is well established within a market that has good potential for accessing innovation and knowledge sharing that can benefit the overall MTN group.”
The first investment by MTN was in 2006 when they bought 100 percent of Investcom LLC which had operations in ten countries across Africa and the Middle East.
