MTN is to sell its stakes in investment fund Amadeus and online platform Travelstart, in line with its plan to raise ZAR15 billion ($1 billion) through asset sales over the next three years.
The company, which is holding a Capital Markets Day with investors today (28 May) in South Africa, said it would sell its interests in both companies to global private equity firm HarbourVest for a total of ZAR1.2 billion according to South African media report.
The deals are expected to close in three months, and aside from raising funds, MTN said the move helps it to simplify its portfolio and reduce risk.
In March 2019, the operator group announced intentions to sell ZAR15 billion worth of assets in the period to 2022, following a wider strategic review that will also see it launch a barrage of new services across its markets.
To that end, the company also revealed plans to build a new app which will allow customers to buy a number of different products and services, such as insurance and washing machines, through its mobile money platform MoMo.
Reuters reported that MTN wants to enable payments to merchants and companies through MoMo, and then expand this by selling third party and MTN’s products through the new app, dubbed “Market Place”.
As part of its ambitions to diversify from traditional telecoms services, MTN has branched out in recent years to music streaming, messaging and fintech.
