Axian Group, the Malagasy conglomerate controlled by multimillionaire businessman Hassanein Hiridjee, is reportedly in advanced talks with MTN to acquire the latter’s assets in Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea-Conakry.
Bloomberg reports that both companies are negotiating the prices of the various assets.
MTN wants to trim its portfolio to channel its energies to its more profitable businesses in Nigeria and South Africa. Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea-Conakry contributed only 1.6% of MTN’s revenue in 2022. MTN made $7.5 billion in combined revenue from its businesses in South Africa and Nigeria last year.
Hiridjee and his Axian Group have executed telecom deals in the last few years.
In 2017, Axian partnered with French billionaire Xavier Niel and Senegal’s richest man, Yerim Sow, to acquire the Senegalese operations of Millicom.
NJJ, a private holding company incorporated in France and owned by telecom billionaire Xavier Niel, and Sofima – a special purpose vehicle whose shareholders were the Teyliom Group and Axian Group, merged forces to acquire Tigo Senegal, one of the African subsidiaries of Swedish mobile telecom giant Millicom. Tigo Senegal had more than 3 million subscribers at the time of the acquisition.
In April 2022, Hiridjee and Tanzanian billionaire Rostam Aziz partnered to acquire Millicom’s assets in Tanzania, including Tigo Tanzania Plc and Zanzibar Telecom.
Headquartered in Madagascar, Axian Group is a pan-African conglomerate with active operations in the real estate, telecommunications, finance, and energy sectors in ten countries spanning the Indian Ocean and the African continent.
