Africa-focused towerco IHS has inked agreements to raise up to US$2.6bn, including US$2bn in equity financing and a US$600m loan.
The new funding will be used to finance recently-announced deals, including the purchase and management of over 11,000…
Africa-focused towerco IHS has inked agreements to raise up to US$2.6bn, including US$2bn in equity financing and a US$600m loan.
The new funding will be used to finance recently-announced deals, including the purchase and management of over 11,000 towers in Nigeria, to build more sites and to continue rolling out power technologies solutions, the towerco said in a statement today.
According to IHS, the US$2bn secured from new and existing shareholders represents the largest equity raise in Africa since 2007.
Majority investor Wendel will contribute US$304m in two tranches, bringing its total cash injection in the towerco so far to US$779m.
The French investment firm also said it has brought together four US and European investors, including FFP and Sofina, to infuse an additional US$181m. These two capital increases will give Wendel a direct 26% stake in IHS and, together with its co-investors, it will hold 36% of the voting rights.
The US$600m loan, which was fully underwritten, is split between a US dollar and a Nigerian naira tranche, which mature in seven and eight years, respectively.
Overall, IHS has secured US$4.5bn since 2012.
Commenting on the financing, IHS CEO Issam Darwish said: “The contribution of our investors significantly strengthens our position and the ability to move into the next phase of growth and development with confidence. We are clear in our ambition to play a leading role in the creation of the widest, most efficient and reliable mobile networks in Africa.”
When agreeing to take control of more than 9,000 towers owned by MTN in Nigeria in early September, IHS said the deal marked its ninth tower transaction and the fifth with the South African telco, after the ones in Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Rwanda and Zambia in 2012 and 2013.
Once the MTN deal and an earlier Etisalat Nigeria transaction close, the towerco will manage more than 20,000 sites in Africa, including almost 15,700 in Nigeria.
Over the past few months, the African tower market has been heating up, with telcos Orange and Bharti Airtel also in the process of offloading some of their passive infrastructure in order to cut costs and focus on core operations.
