After lengthy discussions between the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari and his South African counterpart, Jacob Zuma, the Nigerian government agreed to cut the fine from $5.1 billion to $3.2 billion, a 35% reduction.
As soon as the news of the reduction broke, MTN shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange went up by 1%. Nigeria is MTN largest market and since the announcement of the fine MTN has lost over $5 billion in market value.
Since the imposition of the penalty, there have been various casualties in MTN. Michael Ikpoki the CEO of MTN Nigeria resigned and was replaced by his CFO, Ferdi Moolman. Also Akinwale Goodluck, the head of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs also resigned and has since been replaced with Amina Oyagbola, the head of Human Resources.
According to MTN, the CEO of the MTN Group Phutuma Nhleko, will “immediately and urgently re-engage with the Nigerian Authorities before responding formally”.
MTN has until the end of December to pay the revised penalty.
