About

South African multinational telecommunications company MTN Group is headquartered in Johannesburg and operates in a number of African, European and Asian Countries. MTN has a recorded over 232 million subscribers across 20 countries with one-third of its revenues coming from Nigeria. The South African legal team is led by group chief legal counsel Michael Fleischer, and oversees a number of large executive sponsorships and acquisitions. Known for its football affiliation, over the years MTN has sponsored the CAF Champions League football competition as well as APOEL FC, winners of the Cypriot First Division in 2009, 2011, 2013 2014 and participants in the 2009-10 and 2011-12 UEFA Champions league. The legal team also helped establish MTN Group as primary sponsors of the South African national rugby union team as well as the lucrative sponsorship deal with Manchester United F.C, worth an estimated £5m, giving MTN exclusive rights to use the club’s branding in promotions. Most recently, MTN Group sold 100% of its subsidiary in Cyprus for R4.1bn, MTN’s only operating business in the European Union. The legal team has been required to adhere to various closing adjustments, allowing MTN to gain an attractive valuation. The legal team have also assisted the operator in investing in 5G technology, ensuring faster speeds and more reliable connections for devices, additionally working on a partnership with Nokia, to launch a revolutionary cognitive analytics solution for customer insight which will help the company understand user issues, reduce customer churn and grow usage.