MTN Group names new CEO, makes other strategic changes to senior management

This morning, MTN announced to shareholders that its board has moved to appoint Rob Shuter as its new group president and CEO.

Rob may commence as soon as it is practically possible next year but not later than July 1 after the completion of his current contractual obligations, MTN Group said in a statement.

Dabengwa quit after the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) imposed a fine of N1.4 trillion on MTN over its failure to disconnect 5.2 million unregistered SIM cards.

Regarding its fine which started the management shakeup, MTN has agreed to pay $1,7bn and it has also agreed to list its MTN Nigeria in Lagos.

Shuter is set to head up MTN after the company’s former CEO Sifiso Dabengwa quit a year ago amid a multi-billion dollar telecoms fine debacle in Nigeria.

MTN in its statement said, “following the successful resolution of the Nigerian dispute, it has completed the review of its governance and management structures”.

In the meantime, MTN has been led by chairman Phuthuma Nhleko, who will revert to a non-executive role once Shuter takes charge.

“In terms of execution and experience Rob is definitely the right man for the job”, Peter Takaendesa, a senior analyst at Mergence Investment Managers, said by phone.”There’s a lot of low-hanging fruit that can quickly be fixed at MTN”.

With a background in banking and substantial commercial experience, the new VP for M&A and strategy, who would assume the position on October 1, would focus on increasing the company’s focus on new revenue streams.

The reshuffle follows the huge penalty on MTN Nigeria.

Nigeria is MTN biggest market with over 60 million subscribers. He’s also worked previously for Vodacom Group, Standard Bank and Nedbank.

MTN said Nhleko would remain MTN chairman for the next two-and-a-half years, when he plans to step down.

“Given his background and track record we’d be sure Rob will fit in very well at MTN”, said Anthony Sedgwick, a founding member of Abax Investments, a Cape Town-based asset management firm that holds shares in MTN.

Meanwhile, as expected, Godfrey Motsa, formerly with Vodacom, has been named to head up MTN operations in the Southern and East Africa region from July 1 2016.

“Godfrey joins [MTN] from Vodacom where he was chief officer for consumer business”.

The news of the appointments caused MTN shares to fall by nearly 1%, which company valued at nearly R268 billion.

Founded with the government’s help after the end of apartheid in 1994, MTN was touted as one of South Africa’s biggest corporate success stories.