In Case You Missed It: "MTN Has Already Lost Investors"

In Case You Missed It: "MTN Has Already Lost Investors"
South African Newspaper: "United Against Nuclear Iran has Waged a War Against MTN, Calling on US Investors to Quit their Exposure"

By Sharda Naidoo
Mail & Guardian
May 4, 2012

MTN's share price is likely to remain wobbly as jittery foreign investors face massive pressure from United States authorities and lobby groups to quit their exposure in Africa's R255-billion cellphone giant because of its business activities in Iran.

The company is in danger of being smacked with US sanctions for allegedly providing the Iranian government with technology and spyware to perpetuate what US President Barack Obama claims are "grave" human rights abuses. ...

"MTN has already lost investors," said Stephen Meintjies, head of research at local stockbrokers Imara SP Reid. "Although it has recovered a bit from the lows of early and mid-April, there are still risks and fears of sanctions. ..."

About 55% of MTN's shares are foreign owned and US investors hold about 15% of them. US lobby group United against Nuclear Iran has waged a war against MTN, calling on US investors to quit their exposure in the JSE-listed blue-chip stock, accusing it of providing the Iranian regime with the data necessary to commit human rights abuses.

The nervousness over MTN's future performance is reflected in its share price over the past month. It has yo-yoed from R143.25 on March 12 (when details of the claims started to surface) to a 12-month low of R127.55 on April 4 (a few days after Turkcell's court papers were filed), before slowly recovering to levels of around R135 now. A year ago, it was trading in the range of R150. ...

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