Failed deal with Bharti behind MTN chief's exit

The failed merger with Bharti Airtel last year may have played a role in the decision of MTN chief executive Phuthuma Nhleko to step down in March.

The head of the South African mobile phone giant with huge interests in Africa was lauded by analysts in Johannesburg for having led MTN to great heights, but some felt that Nhleko's two failed attempts at a deal with Bharti Airtel had tarnished his image.

Telecommunications analyst Arthur Goldstuck said Nhleko's standing with the MTN Board had declined after the Bharti fiasco.

"(The deal) was far more in Bharti's interests," Goldstuck told the daily Business Day in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The proposed $23 billion deal with Bharti, which collapsed after government regulatory approval was denied, would have created a mobile giant straddling three continents.

But it also sparked concerns that Nhleko was supporting control of MTN by a foreign company.

MTN's share price jumped up by 6 per cent on the day that the deal finally collapsed, which according to Goldstuck, 'must have affected the (MTN) Board 's view on the company's leadership'.

Another analyst, Irnest Kaplan, said Nhleko's popularity may have declined after the two failed Bharti deals, but agreed that he had led MTN to staggering growth in the past decade.