African telecom infrastructure provider IHS and Helios Towers Nigeria have entered into an agreement under which IHS will acquire HTN's portfolio of 1,211 diversified tower sites throughout Nigeria. Subject to the usual regulatory approvals, IHS will acquire the entire issued share capital of HTN from HTN Towers, which is ultimately owned by Helios Investment Partners, Pembani Group, First City Monument Bank and other minority shareholders. No financial details were disclosed.
Upon completion of the transaction, IHS will have full operational control of the underlying business and will market independent infrastructure sharing services to mobile network operators and internet service providers in Nigeria.
Business will continue as usual for HTN's towers which will be seamlessly integrated into the IHS network and connected to IHS's state of the art network operating centre which monitors each tower 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The transaction is expected to close in Q2.
HTN and IHS established the mobile telecommunications infrastructure industry in Nigeria in the early 2000s and this transaction will be the first in-market consolidation in Africa. The transaction will allow the continued delivery of best-in-class solutions to customers and additional investment in infrastructure upgrades, IHS said.
