Mteto Nyati came close to being head of Altron while he was still CEO of MTN SA. Before Altron poached him, he got relatively near to pulling the trigger on an MTN takeover of the then-struggling manufacturing and technology group. Nyati, while head of MTN’s SA business, was on the hunt for new revenue streams as the mobile operator faced a decline in traditional voice-call revenues. "I was looking at that new revenue stream being ICT [information and communications technology]," he recalls. "I felt it was going to take forever to organically build that capability, so we needed to make an acquisition." Despite its troubles, Altron really tickled his fancy. So, between March and September 2015, MTN was in serious talks with the company about a deal and was conducting a rigorous due-diligence process. Altron had a market capitalisation of about R6bn when discussions started. Just nine months before, it was worth R10bn. Ultimately though, Nyati decided not to pursue it, simply because ...

Subscribe now to unlock this article.

Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).

There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.

Cancel anytime.

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.