MTN Group sells its 18.9% stake in African E-commerce giant- Jumia

The South African Telecommunication giant- MTN Group announced on October 30th, 2020, the sale of its 18.9% investment in Jumia, an African leading e-commerce firm, for a proposed net proceed of $142.31 million dollars. MTN made an earlier announcement of this decision in August 2020, before Jumia’s 2020 Q2 earnings call.

Fillings with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) have been initiated to prepare for the secondary sale of its shares and the sale is described as an effort by MTN Group to streamline the business portfolio and reduce their debt by disposing non-core business operations.

Announcement of the sale is coming 6 months after Jumia’s parent company- Rocket Internet also sold their 11% stake in the company following the sporadic decline in Jumia stock value on the NYSE. Since the listing of Jumia on the NYSE in 2019, the company has been faced with several accusations, lawsuits, highs, and lows in the company stock performance.

MTN’s announcements is said to have resulted in a negative market reaction for Jumia’s share price in the following days and potential stakeholders in the e-commerce space remain hopeful as Jumia is expected to announce its Q3 2020 earnings on November 10, 2020.