MTN Group is making progress towards separating the company’s fintech business and sell a portfolio of South African towers as Africa’s largest wireless carrier continues to slim down.

The finalising of a plan to spin off the lucrative fintech unit, which includes mobile money, should be completed by the end of March 2022, MTN said on Wednesday. A sale and leaseback of South African telecoms masts is slated for the third quarter of this year, with more than 20 responses received, the company said.

MTN is in the process of selling assets to realise value from its pan-African businesses. This has included the disposal of e-commerce units and the listing of country divisions on local stock exchanges. The latest of those was Rwanda, which listed in Kigali this week.

One area MTN wants to expand is Ethiopia, and the company led one of two consortiums bidding for new telecoms licences in the country. The group is awaiting a response from the Ethiopian government. — (c) 2021 Bloomberg LP