MTN’s Stephen van Coller will join EOH as its new group CEO, effective from 1 September. He resigned as a vice president at MTN Group on Thursday after two years with the mobile telecommunications provider.

Van Coller’s appointment follows the announcement last month that EOH would be split into two operating companies, namely EOH and Nextec. Zunaid Mayet, who had served as EOH’s group CEO, has resigned to take the reins at Nextec, while Rob Godlonton will lead the new EOH subsidiary.

Van Coller, who is an accountant by training, was head of Absa’s Corporate and Investment Bank before joining MTN in 2016. Before that, he spent almost a decade at Deutsche Bank, heading its global banking business in South Africa.

“The board of directors of EOH Holdings is delighted to confirm the appointment of a CEO of Stephen’s calibre,” EOH said in a statement to shareholders before markets opened in Johannesburg on Thursday.

“His business knowledge, experience, background in the African market and the technology space, coupled with his excellent financial acumen, ideally positions him to lead EOH Holdings into its next chapter.”

EOH’s share price closed up 6.5% on Wednesday, ahead of the announcement.

The IT services group said in March that it would split its business into two new operating entities, one under the EOH brand focusing on legacy ICT operations, and the new business — later named as Nextec — to focus on high-growth opportunities.

The EOH Holdings corporate structure will be responsible for corporate finance, strategy, group reporting, investor relations, risk and compliance. In addition to the growth expected from the two newly created businesses, EOH Holdings will drive growth in the areas of innovation, own intellectual property/software, international business, and emerging technologies, it said at the time. — (c) 2018 NewsCentral Media