MTN Uganda on Wednesday announced plans to transfer its Mobile Money (MoMo) operations to a newly established company, with the final decision now resting in the hands of its shareholders during an upcoming extraordinary general meeting.
MTN MoMo to operate under new company
The proposed transaction, if approved, will see MTN MoMo cease to be a subsidiary of MTN Uganda Limited. Instead, the mobile money and financial technology services currently operated under MTN MoMo will be transferred to a new company owned by MTN Group Fintech Holdings B.V. alongside a trust benefiting MTN’s minority institutional and retail shareholders.
Proposed transaction waiting for shareholders’ approval
Shareholders will vote on the proposal during an extraordinary general meeting scheduled for Wednesday, July 2. Ahead of this, a circular dated June 11, signed by the Company Secretary, Enid Edroma, was issued to provide shareholders with detailed information about the transaction to enable an informed decision.
Conditions for approval
The circular was created in compliance with the Uganda Securities Exchange (“USE”) Listing Rules 2025 and the Capital Markets (Corporate Governance) Regulations 2025.
The approval of MTN shareholders, as well as all other necessary regulatory approvals and no-objections, are among the requirements that must be met for the proposed transaction to proceed.
MTN Uganda cautioned shareholders and the public to exercise prudence when trading MTN shares during this period, emphasising that further announcements regarding the transaction’s progress will be made in due course.
“MTN shareholders and the general public are advised to exercise caution when dealing in MTN shares. Further announcements regarding the status of the Proposed Transaction will be made in due course,” it stated.
Earlier report to split off MTN fintech subsidiary
Techpression reported in March that MTN Group plans to split off its financial technology (fintech) operations in Ghana, Uganda, and Nigeria in the first half of 2025. This move is part of a larger restructuring effort to allow Mastercard Inc. to acquire a minority stake in MTN’s rapidly growing fintech businesses. MTN CEO Ralph Mupita shared this information in an interview with Bloomberg.
Ghana and Uganda have more developed spin-off procedures, although Nigeria’s complex regulations present a hurdle to the telecom group.
According to Mupita, Nigeria has “a bit more complexity with some more regulatory processes to work through. ”
MTN reaffirmed its commitment to completing the restructuring in all three markets despite these obstacles.
MTN fintech 2024 financial year report
Techpression reported in March that the number of active MTN Uganda’s fintech users increased by 13.9 percent to 13.8 million, indicating that the fintech industry is still a major development driver, according to MTN Uganda’s 2024 financial year report.
Fintech revenue increased by 22.8 percent to UGX947.5 billion, supported by rising mobile money transaction volumes and a robust uptake of digital financial services.
The number of mobile money transactions increased by 26.6 percent to 4.3 billion, while the value of those transactions increased by 19.1 percent to UGX158.6 trillion.
Revenue from banking and payment solutions, as well as other advanced services, increased by 39.1 percent.