Mastercard has agreed to take a minority stake in the financial technology unit of South Africa’s MTN, Africa’s biggest mobile company by subscribers, valuing the arm that covers payments and remittances at more than $5bn. Ralph Mupita, MTN’s chief executive said, “This is a really key milestone towards driving the acceleration of our [fintech] services,” he added. MTN has been seeking to unlock value in one of Africa’s largest mobile money networks while global investors are being enticed by fintech assets that are growing quickly on the continent outside traditional banking. The size of the MTN fintech stake and the amount paid by Mastercard were not disclosed. The $5.2bn valuation excludes cash and debt and “there will be fuller disclosures on Mastercard’s investment amount”, Mupita said. Mastercard previously invested $100mn in the mobile money business of Airtel Africa, MTN’s rival, valuing that unit at the time in 2021 at more than $2.6bn. MTN said that on a standalone basis the fintech unit could achieve earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of more than 30 per cent of revenue.

What is Mastercard’s Stake in the Financial Technology Arm of MTN?

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