MTN Group has announced it has reached a resolution agreement with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over the alleged improper repatriation by MTN Nigeria of USD8.1 billion between 2007 and 2015. Following a series of meetings to resolve the matter, the South African group said MTN Nigeria provided documentation which satisfactorily clarified its remittances and the CBN has concluded that the cellco is no longer required to reverse the historical dividend payments made to MTN Nigeria shareholders. However, the CBN maintains that the proceeds from the preference shares in MTN Nigeria’s private placement remittances of 2008 of around USD1 billion were irregular, as certain certificates of capital importation (CCIs) had not received final regulatory approval from the CBN. As such, MTN Nigeria and the CBN have agreed that the operator will pay the notional reversal amount of USD52.6 million ‘without admission of liability’.
Nigeria,MTN Group, MTN Nigeria, Corporate/Financial, Wireless
