Helios Towers Africa (HTA) has acquired 3,100 telecoms towers from Indian giant Bharti Airtel on the African continent.
The deal price tag has not been disclosed but previous estimates valued Bharti’s 15,000 African towers at up to US$2bn.
The…
Helios Towers Africa (HTA) has acquired 3,100 telecoms towers from Indian giant Bharti Airtel on the African continent.
The deal price tag has not been disclosed but previous estimates valued Bharti’s 15,000 African towers at up to US$2bn.
The towerco bought the sites in four nations, expanding its own portfolio to 7,800. HTA operates in three countries at present – Ghana, Tanzania and DRC – and has an affiliate in Nigeria.
Helios has not revealed how it is financing the deal but earlier reports suggested the tower operator was seeking around US$500m in equity funding. Its current shareholders include Albright Capital Management and George Soros’ Quantum Strategic Partners.
In late June the International Finance Corporation (IFC), another HTA investor, approved an equity injection of US$35m for the company to buy more towers. The IFC had previously revealed that the total cost for an additional 3,000 sites was estimated at around US$450m.
TelecomFinance understands that Standard Chartered advised HTA on the M&A and financing aspects of the transaction. Standard Bank also provided advice on the financing.
The deal is subject to regulatory and statutory approvals in the respective countries.
Bharti said the deal will allow it to focus on its core business while reducing its capex and cutting its debt pile.
As of 31 March, the Indian operator’s liabilities stood at US$10.1bn, most of which was incurred when Bharti acquired Zain’s African operations in 2010 in a US$10.7bn deal.
The company will still have full access to the towers under a long-term lease contract with HTA. The remaining 12,000 sites or so, across at least half a dozen geographies, are expected to be split between other local towercos, in particular IHS and Eaton.
Since the beginning of the year, IHS has secured US$620m in equity and debt funding. Some of it is expected to go towards new acquisitions, the company said in May.
The African tower market is currently seeing a flurry of activity with MTN, Orange and Etisalat also looking to divest infrastructure.
South Africa’s MTN recently closed the sale of over 1,200 towers to IHS in Rwanda and Zambia.
In Nigeria alone, three sales processes are ongoing. Etisalat has hired Standard Bank for the sale of its sites in the country, while MTN mandated Citi. In Egypt, Orange is in the process of offloading the towers held by its Mobinil subsidiary.
Terry Rhodes, co-founder of Eaton Towers, told the audience at the January TelecomFinance 2014 Conference that the number of sites on offer in Africa now exceeded what local tower companies could buy, with around 40,000 towers on the block.
“None of us can do 40,000 towers, so if there is anybody out there wanting an equity or debt play in this market, now is a good time to come and talk to us,” he told delegates.
“There’s room for more financial institutions, there’s probably not room for more tower companies – we’ve done all the ground work.”
