MTN has appointed Kholekile Ndamase as the new deputy head of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for the group.
Ndamase will join MTN on 10 September from Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), where he led the equity-based financing business. At RMB, he led a team of professionals who focused on providing financing solutions for merger- and acquisition-related transactions.
"Kholekile brings extensive experience to the role, particularly in transaction origination, structuring and execution. His knowledge and skills are essential to the attainment of MTN's broader growth strategy, as we continue to focus our efforts on developing our participation in adjacent sectors," says MTN group executive chairman, Phuthuma Nhleko.
While at RMB, Ndamase led the provision of financing solutions for diversified and non-diversified investment holding companies, including black economic empowerment transactions such as Aspen, Bidvest, FirstRand, MTN and Steinhoff.
In addition to occupying other management roles during his 12-year tenure at the bank, he has served on the Investment Banking Division Management Board, Investment Banking Division Strategy Forum, and was chairperson of the Investment Banking Division Strategy Forum. Before joining the First Rand Group in 2004, he worked at Accenture.
Ndamase joins a strategy and M&A team that MTN says has been tasked with taking advantage of opportunities presented by a rapidly changing sector.
His selection comes hot on the heels of a number of new executive appointments at the group, including Stephen van Coller joining as VP of strategy and M&A.
Last month, MTN also announced Vodafone executive Rob Shuter would join as group president and CEO to replace Sifiso Dabengwa, who resigned in early November 2015. His resignation came just two weeks after the company announced it faced a $5.2 billion (R76 billion) fine from the Nigerian Communication Commission for failing to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards in the country. Last month, after months of negotiations, MTN agreed to pay $1.671 billion (R25 billion) to the Nigerian government, in six instalments over three years, to settle the fine.
Shuter will only begin in his role sometime next year, but no later than 1 July 2017, as he still has to fulfil his contractual obligations under his current role as CEO of Vodafone's European cluster. Until then, Nhleko will continue to lead the company as executive chairman.
MTN this week also announced that group CFO Brett Goschen would leave the telecoms operator at the end of September "to pursue other interests".
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