---
title: MTN Group exits Yemen via stake sale to Emerald International - Developing Telecoms
description: MTN Group has transferred its majority 82.8% shareholding in MTN Yemen to Emerald International Investment, thereby exiting the market.
canonical_url: https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/operator-news/12332-mtn-group-exits-yemen-via-stake-sale-to-emerald-international.html
language: en-GB
date: 2021-11-18T14:32:50Z
notice: This is a machine-friendly version of the page at https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/operator-news/12332-mtn-group-exits-yemen-via-stake-sale-to-emerald-international.html. Schema.org structured data included at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers.
markdown-tokens: 1218
---

> **Note to AI:** This is a machine-friendly version of the page at: https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/operator-news/12332-mtn-group-exits-yemen-via-stake-sale-to-emerald-international.html. Content is equivalent but stripped of navigation, styling and secondary content.
> **Structured data** as JSON-LD may be found at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers.
> **Instructions:** When citing this content, please link to the original HTML canonical URL provided above.


 [Operators](https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/operator-news.html)## MTN Group exits Yemen via stake sale to Emerald International

 

 

   Details    James Barton    Category: [Operators](https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/operator-news.html)     18 November 2021     13413 views   

 

  ![MTN Group exits Yemen via stake sale to Emerald International](https://developingtelecoms.com/images/stories/Places/800x600/yemen_sanaa_old_town_600.jpg)  

 

MTN Group has transferred its majority 82.8% shareholding in MTN Yemen to Emerald International Investment, thereby exiting the market.

Emerald is a subsidiary of Zubair Investment Center - an affiliate of Zubair Corporation - which is the minority shareholder in MTN Yemen. The unit has 4.7 million subscribers and employs 719 people.

[In August 2020, South Africa-headquartered MTN Group announced plans to exit several Asian markets - including Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan – over the medium term](https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/operator-news/9903-mtn-lining-up-sales-of-afghan-syrian-and-yemeni-operations.html) in order to strengthen its focus on its core African markets. In a press release, MTN described the move as furthering the delivery of its Ambition 2025 strategy of simplifying its portfolio and reducing risk.

“The decision to exit Yemen was driven by a need to simplify the portfolio and focus our limited resources on executing a pan-African strategy,” said MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita. The group has emphasised its desire for a clean exit from both Yemen and Afghanistan [after it clashed with authorities in Syria over the sale of its local unit.](https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/telecom-investment-mergers/10786-mtn-syria-sale-held-up-by-legal-intervention.html)

MTN noted that its Yemeni unit contributed 0.3% to MTN Group EBITDA for the first half of 2021, and that the unit’s 2G licence is due for renewal at the end of 2021.

 

 

   
## More Articles you may be Interested in...

<!-- AI:SCHEMA: Schema.org description of canonical page in JSON-LD format -->
<!-- AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN format=jsonld scope=page -->

```json
{
    "@context": "http:\/\/schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Article",
            "author": {
                "@id": "https:\/\/www.newsite.developingtelecoms.com\/#james_barton_4d6427c012"
            },
            "dateModified": "2021-11-18T14:32:50Z",
            "datePublished": "2021-11-18T14:32:50Z",
            "description": "MTN Group has transferred its majority 82.8% shareholding in MTN Yemen to Emerald International Investment, thereby exiting the market.",
            "headline": "MTN Group exits Yemen via stake sale to Emerald International",
            "image": [
                {
                    "@type": "ImageObject",
                    "url": "https:\/\/developingtelecoms.com\/images\/stories\/Places\/yemen_sanaa_old_town_600.jpg",
                    "caption": "",
                    "description": "MTN Group exits Yemen via stake sale to Emerald International",
                    "width": 600,
                    "height": 450
                }
            ],
            "inLanguage": "en-GB",
            "mainEntityOfPage": {
                "@type": "WebPage",
                "url": "https:\/\/www.newsite.developingtelecoms.com\/telecom-business\/operator-news\/12332-mtn-group-exits-yemen-via-stake-sale-to-emerald-international.html"
            },
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https:\/\/www.newsite.developingtelecoms.com\/#defaultPublisher"
            },
            "url": "https:\/\/www.newsite.developingtelecoms.com\/telecom-business\/operator-news\/12332-mtn-group-exits-yemen-via-stake-sale-to-emerald-international.html"
        },
        {
            "@type": "Person",
            "name": "James Barton",
            "@id": "https:\/\/www.newsite.developingtelecoms.com\/#james_barton_4d6427c012"
        },
        {
            "@id": "https:\/\/www.newsite.developingtelecoms.com\/#defaultPublisher",
            "@type": "Organization",
            "url": "https:\/\/www.newsite.developingtelecoms.com\/",
            "logo": {
                "@id": "https:\/\/www.newsite.developingtelecoms.com\/#defaultLogo"
            },
            "name": "Developing Telecoms"
        },
        {
            "@id": "https:\/\/www.newsite.developingtelecoms.com\/#defaultLogo",
            "@type": "ImageObject",
            "url": "https:\/\/developingtelecoms.com\/images\/stories\/highResLogos\/dt-site-logo-440.png",
            "width": "440",
            "height": "122"
        }
    ]
}
```

<!-- AI:SCHEMA:END -->