South African telecommunications giant, MTN has announced a deal that involves divestment of minority stake in its $5.2billion Fintech division to Mastercard, a global payment processing firm.
MTN is Selling 30% of its Fintec Business to outside Investors
The partnership is part of MTN’s strategy to sell up to 30% of its fintech business to outside investors. Mastercard’s investment will be based on a valuation of $5.2 billion for MTN’s fintech division.
MTN’s fintech division includes its mobile money service, MTN Mobile Money (MoMo), which has nearly 70 million users across 17 African countries.
Under the partnership, MoMo users will have the ability to generate virtual Mastercard payment cards linked to their MoMo wallets, and Group Fintech merchants will be able to accept Mastercard payments.
MTN aims to leverage Mastercard’s extensive network and client base to expand its fintech services.
Despite challenges like geopolitical factors and exchange rate fluctuations, MTN remains optimistic about its fintech growth.
In H1 2023, MTN Group’s fintech revenue reached approximately $520 million, marking a 21.7% increase from the same period the previous year.
MoMo processed 8.3 billion transactions valued at $135.2 billion in the first half of 2023, targeting further expansion and growth in the coming years.
