MTN Faces Mounting Pressure From Nigeria on $8 Billion Claim
- Central bank asks Lagos court not to grant MTN an injunction
- CBN says it still wants amicable resolution with carrier
Photographer: Nadine Hutton/Bloomberg
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MTN Group Ltd. is facing mounting pressure to return $8.1 billion to Nigeria after the country’s central bank argued that the South African wireless carrier should pay interest on dividends it said were repatriated illegally. The stock dropped the most in a month.
MTN should pay an annualized 15 percent interest until courts rule on the conflict, and then 10 percent until the whole sum is paid, the Central Bank of Nigeria said in documents filed with the Federal High Court in Lagos in the past week, seen by Bloomberg News. The central bank asked the court to deny MTN’s request for an injunction that would stop it having to transfer the money.