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MTN has $450m held in Iran by sanctions

23 Oct 2013 - 11:08


MTN has $450m held in Iran by sanctions
Better US-Iranian relations would be very welcome for MTN Group because it had not been able to repatriate about $450 million (R4.4 billion) from a unit in Iran, Nik Kershaw, a spokesman for the cellphone operator, said yesterday.
MTN’s funds had been blocked since early last year because of Washington’s sanctions against Tehran. “Our primary focus remains to ensure that we are sanction compliant with everything we do there,” said Kershaw. “But obviously it would be a great outcome if things did improve.” MTN owns 49 percent of MTN Irancell, which contributed 24 percent of its 2012 revenue. Iran’s Ghanoon newspaper yesterday quoted MTN Irancell executive Alireza Ghalambar Dezfouli as saying MTN had been unable to repatriate about $450m from Iran. Kershaw confirmed that amount, although he could not give an exact figure because of exchange rates. About $120m of that was in dividends owed to MTN, with the remainder made up of loans due to be repaid to the South African company, he said. – Reuters

 

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By Business Report 

 

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