Helios’ newly established pan-African group, Helios Towers Africa, agreed to acquire around 750 telecom towers from Millicom Ghana earlier this week.
The specific number of towers and price will be determined at the time of closing, expected in around…
Helios’ newly established pan-African group, Helios Towers Africa, agreed to acquire around 750 telecom towers from Millicom Ghana earlier this week.
The specific number of towers and price will be determined at the time of closing, expected in around three months, the parties say in a statement.
The transaction was carried out by Helios Towers Ghana, one of the many local subsidiaries that Helios Towers plans to set up across the continent. It is non-exclusive and “HTG will seek similar agreements with other operators in Ghana,” the groups said.
Millicom, which operates under the brand name Tigo, will acquire a minority interest in HTG as a result of the deal. Meanwhile, HTG has agreed to lease and support the towers to Tigo under a long-term leasing agreement.
The deal is the first by Helios Partners since the UK investment fund raised US$350m to launch a pan-African tower group late last year. This will seek to replicate the success of its existing venture in Nigeria, Helios Towers Nigeria.
The sale comes as South Africa’s Cell C is reviewing eights bids for the sale of its tower network, which it says attracted keen interest from both financial and industry players.
Millicom CEO and president Mikael Grahne recognised that the sale forms part of a wider trend as operators seek sensible ways to cut costs.
“Operators around the world are increasingly recognising that owning and operating all of their own network infrastructure does not confer a competitive advantage,” Grahne said in a statement.
