MTN Nigeria's MoMo Sale Was a 31% Loss on Actual Investment, Analysis Finds
Contrarian analysis of MTN Nigeria's ₦95.5 billion MoMo fintech sale argues the deal represents a 31 percent loss on the company's actual investment, reframing the transaction from a headline win into a value-destruction event. The assessment challenges the dominant narrative around one of Nigeria's most prominent recent fintech deals.
MoMo Sale: a 2x gain that's actually a 31% loss
MTN Nigeria's ₦95.5 billion sale of MoMo PSB was presented as a 2.1x premium — and technically, on the written-down book value, it is.
But that book value had already been slashed by ₦63 billion in write-downs before the deal closed. Measure the sale price against the ₦108 billion MTN Nigeria actually put in, and the company recovered 88 cents on every naira invested — a loss, not a gain.
The 2.1x figure is real arithmetic. It just starts from a number that had already been cut nearly in half.
For anyone watching African fintech deals: the headline multiple and the actual return on cash invested are two different things, and this story shows exactly how far apart they can be.
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- Is MTN Nigeria’s ₦95.5bn fintech sale really a win? · thecondia.com · T2