MTN’s Dubai subsidiary sells MTN Cyprus for 260 mln euros

South Africa-based mobile telecommunications company MTN Group Ltd said on Monday its Dubai subsidiary sold its Cyprus business to Monaco Telecom S.A for 260 million euros.

Africa’s biggest mobile telecoms group said that as part of the deal to sell MTN Cyprus it would allow the use of the MTN brand in Cyprus for up to three years for a fee.

MTN Cyprus, which is the South African company’s only business in the European Union, was acquired as part of the acquisition of telecoms holding company Investcom LLC in 2006.
“It falls outside the group’s core footprint of Africa and the Middle East,” MTN said in a statement.

Johannesburg-listed MTN, which has businesses in 24 countries in Africa and the Middle East, is expanding in the continent and plans to launch a mobile service in Namibia in August.

[Reuters]