Prime Business AfricaMTN Nigeria shareholders lost N104.97 billion combined within five days after Eyitope Kola-Oyeneyin, a board member, sold her stake in the telecommunications company on Monday, May 19.
Kola-Oyeneyin sold the shares five months after she was appointed as a member of the board on January 2, 2025, to serve as an independent non-executive director.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelAccording to Kola-Oyeneyin’s trading activity, Prime Business Africa gathered that she sold 293,122 ordinary shares to take N79.67 million out of the investment she holds with her husband through Venia Technologies Limited.
A breakdown of her share transactions showed that Kola-Oyeneyin sold 44,338 units at N273 per share, 900 units at N271.50 per share and 247,884 units at N271 per share on May 19.
On the day she sold the shares, MTN’s shares closed trading at N275 per share, and traded flat for the next three days before declining by 1.81 percent to N270 on Friday, May 23, according to stock market data checked by Prime Business Africa.
This resulted in MTN’s shareholders losing a whopping N104.97 billion within a week, with the company’s stock market valuation dropping from N5.77 trillion to N5.66 trillion.
Kola-Oyeneyin had sold the shares after MTN experienced a bullish run – between Thursday, January 2, to Friday, May 16 – which raised the company’s share price by N78 from N200 to N278 and led to a 39 percent increase in shareholders’ investments.
This means the shares sold by Kola-Oyeneyin were worth N58.62 billion at the start of the year, when MTN’s market valuation was N4,19 trillion, indicating the company’s shareholders, including the board member, had recorded a combined gain of N1.63 trillion before she sold the shares, as the market valuation was N5,83 trillion on May 16.
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Prime Business Africa is a business, economy and policy news platform founded in 2021 by veteran journalist and media scholar, Dr Marcel Mbamalu, after he left The Guardian as Editor.
Dr Mbamalu, who serves as Founder and Publisher, set up Prime Business Africa to deliver sharp, data-driven reporting on Nigeria’s markets, trade, investment, and governance trends for decision-makers, entrepreneurs, and policy leaders.
He also writes The Bottom Line, a backpage column for Punch Newspaper every Thursday.
Under his leadership, Prime Business Africa combines deep newsroom experience with a focus on accountability journalism, aiming to bridge information gaps between Africa’s private sector and the global economy.
