Battered MTN Nigeria may need billions. Which way will it go?

When investors in MTN Nigeria meet in Lagos for the company's extraordinary general meeting (EGM) later this month, they will hear from the management team how it plans to tackle a technically insolvent balance sheet.

Most pressing are the lease agreements for its network tower infrastructure, which the company said it was renegotiating with the owners - American Tower Corporation (ATC) Nigeria and IHS Towers. The agreements are linked to both Nigeria's naira and the US dollar, further exposing MTN to vagaries of the foreign exchange market, and this hit it hard in its 2023 year to end-December.

The lease agreements have placed a total liability of 1 trillion naira, or just under $800 million (about R15 billion) as of 2023. This is up from a restated 660 billion naira in the prior year.