The division is outside the carrier’s core territories of Africa and the Middle East, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement Monday. MTN Cyprus had 426,000 customers at the end of March, the fewest of MTN’s 22 markets. The carrier has 221 million subscribers across all operations.
MTN said in March it was reviewing the company’s portfolio to make sure all divisions were self-funding and necessary parts of the business, in particular highlighting conflict areas such as Syria and Yemen. Regulatory battles in two problematic territories, Benin and Cameroon, have since been resolved.
The shares declined 0.6 percent in early trading in Johannesburg, the fifth consecutive daily fall. The stock is down 22 percent this year, giving the company a market value of R200 billion ($16 billion).
The transaction values MTN Cyprus at about eight times reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation in 2017. MTN will let Monaco Telecom continue to use the MTN brand in Cyprus for as many as three years in return for a commercial fee, it said.
MTN Cyprus was acquired as part of MTN’s purchase of Investcom LLC in 2006.
