Nhleko sells R123m in shares

MTN group executive chairman Phuthuma Nhleko. File picture: Simphiwe Mbokazi/Independent Media

MTN group executive chairman Phuthuma Nhleko. File picture: Simphiwe Mbokazi/Independent Media

Published Dec 1, 2016

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Johannesburg - MTN Group executive chairman Phuthuma Nhleko sold shares worth about R123 million.This is as he prepares to hand over the day-to-day running of Africa’s biggest wireless company to incoming CEO Rob Shuter. 

Nhleko will also benefit from the termination of share options valued at R130 million, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement after the market closed on Wednesday. 

He will return to his previous role as non-executive chairman when Shuter joins from Vodafone Group on March 17. 

MTN said in November 2015 Nhleko would retake the helm after CEO Sifiso Dabengwa resigned in the wake of a record $5.2 billion fine in Nigeria. 

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The chairman led negotiations with the country’s authorities, eventually agreeing to pay about $1 billion and list the local unit on the country’s stock market.

He also hired Shuter as his successor. 

As CEO for almost nine years until 2011, he transformed MTN from a small South African wireless carrier into a telecommunications giant with customers in 22 countries. 

The chairman sold about 1.08 million shares at R113.86 each. He had just over 2 million shares at the end of 2015, according to MTN’s annual report. 

MTN shares declined 0.6 percent to R113.20 by the close in Johannesburg, extending the year’s decline to 15 percent. 

That values the company at R217 billion. 

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