Private equity firm Providence Equity Partners is one of two new investors participating in a US$630m equity raise for Helios Towers Africa (HTA).
Alongside Providence, the towerco’s existing investors – George Soros’ Quantum Strategic Partners,…
Private equity firm Providence Equity Partners is one of two new investors participating in a US$630m equity raise for Helios Towers Africa (HTA).
Alongside Providence, the towerco’s existing investors – George Soros’ Quantum Strategic Partners, Albright Capital Management, Helios Investment Partners, RIT Capital Partners and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) – also took part in the latest funding round.
The other new shareholder is IFC African, Latin American, and Caribbean Fund (ALAC Fund).
HTA just agreed to buy over 3,000 towers in four different African countries from Indian telecoms group Bharti Airtel. Helios now owns more than 7,800 towers across the continent.
In late June, the IFC approved an equity injection of US$35m for the company to buy more towers and said the ALAC Fund was considering an equity investment of up to US$75m in HTA.
The price tag for the tower acquisition has not been disclosed but the IFC 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.
HTA also said today that it expects to soon complete negotiations on new and extended debt facilities of over US$350m with a syndicate of international and local lenders.
Overall, the towerco has raised over US$1.8bn in external financing since 2009 to fund acquisitions and organic development.
In the statement, Helios pointed to the growth potential in the African telecoms towers industry. “There is a need for 100,000 points of services (PoS) in Africa to merely satisfy demand for 2G coverage and associated capacity demand over the next five years.
“This PoS requirement is underpinned further by the growing demand for 3G and 4G data, which is driving the need for significant additional infrastructure capacity and in-fill across the continent.”
