MTN rallies minority owners for MOMO separation

Sylvia Mulinge, the MTN Uganda CEO, Charles Mbiire, the MTN Uganda Board Chairman and Richard Yego, the MTN Mobile Money CEO.
MTN Uganda has summoned its minority shareholders for an Extraordinary General Meeting to vote for a key decision to separate its mobile money business from the telecommunications company.
A press release published in the media today indicates that the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) is to be held on Wednesday July 2, to endorse the structural separation of MTN Mobile Money (U) Limited (MTN MoMo) from the core telecom business.
“MTN Uganda will hold an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on Wednesday, 2 July 2025 at 3:00 p.m. to seek shareholder approval for the Proposed Transaction,” the release says, adding that the EGM is to be conducted as a hybrid meeting (physical and electronic).
- The structural change that MTN aspires to achieve would see the mobile money and fintech business operate under an entirely new mobile money and fintech division under the MTN Group.
The transaction, which has been undergoing intense scrutiny by different regulators for over a year, is part of MTN Group’s long-term strategy to accelerate growth in its fintech portfolio and unlock value for shareholders and attract targeted investment, and better position the fintech business for future opportunities.
MTN Uganda, which was listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) in December 2021, is partly owned by minority shareholders who own 23.985% shares.
- MTN MOMO has become a cash-cow for the shareholders, and has partly contributed to the share price rising from the IPO price of UGX200 to UGX271 currently.
In 2024, MTN Mobile Money transactions hit UGX158 trillion, and saw total revenue grow by 22.8% to UGX947.5 billion.
The proposed separation involves the transfer of the mobile money business to a new company to be jointly owned by MTN Group Fintech Holdings B.V. and a ‘trust’ representing the minority institutional and retail shareholders.
Last month, MTN held its AGM for the year ended December 2024, at which it announced a profit after tax of UGX641.5 billion, representing a 30% growth compared to the previous year. This growth was partly attributed to the company's strategic investments in fintech.
The AGM approved a dividend payment of UGX22.1 per share, reflecting a 22.8% increase compared to the previous year.
- The company says structurally separating MTN MoMo is critical as it would fulfil one of the core objectives of ‘MTN’s Ambition 2025 strategy’: To “build valuable platforms” and “transform the MTN portfolio” by deliberately evolving and adapting MTN’s traditional telecommunications business to take advantage of the growth of technology-enabled services across the world.
- “The structural separation is also expected to attract strategic investors and partners at the MTN Group Fintech level, with a view to bringing onboard capital, technologies and critical sector capabilities that will enable MTN New FinCo to benefit from new strategic partnerships,” the press release added.
For example, the MTN Group and the global payments giant Mastercard in 2023 signed a MoU for a minority investment into MTN Group Fintech across 13 African countries. The multi-market partnership would involve Mastercard investing $200 million for a 3.8% stake in the company.
The partnership has so far introduced virtual and physical Mastercard companion cards to every MoMo wallet, granting users access to over 100 million acceptance locations globally.
The Mastercard partnership has so far introduced virtual and physical Mastercard companion cards to every MoMo wallet, granting users access to over 100 million payments locations globally, thus strengthening MTN's digital payment ecosystem, hence opening up additional revenue streams for shareholders.