MTN Group executive chairman Phuthuma Nhleko sold shares worth about R123m as he prepares to hand over the day-to-day running of Africa’s biggest cellphone company to incoming CEO Rob Shuter.

Nhleko will also benefit from the termination of share options valued at R130m, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement after the market closed on Wednesday.

He will return to his previous role as nonexecutive chairman when Shuter joins from Vodafone Group on March 17.

MTN said in November 2015 Nhleko would retake the helm after CEO Sifiso Dabengwa resigned in the wake of a record $5.2 billion fine in Nigeria.

The chairman led negotiations with the country’s authorities, eventually agreeing to pay about $1bn, and hired Shuter as his successor.

As CEO for almost nine years until 2011, he transformed MTN from a small South African cellphone carrier into a telecommunications giant with customers in 22 countries.

The chairman sold about 1.08-million shares at R113.86 each. He had just over 2-million shares at the end of 2015, according to MTN’s annual report.

MTN shares declined 0.6% to R113.20 by the close in Johannesburg on Wednesday, extending the year’s decline to 15%. That values the company at R217bn. (Bloomberg)

•Photo shows MTN Group Executive Chairman Phuthuma Nhleko.

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