Wendel and its subsidiary Oranje-Nassau Developpement announced the signing of an agreement with IHS Holding to acquire a significant equity stake in the company. IHS provides telecommunication tower infrastructure to mobile operators in Africa. Its activities consist of building, leasing and managing telecom towers on its own and third parties' behalf, including customers such as MTN Group, Etisalat and Airtel. Wendel will participate in a capital increase of IHS to support its pan-African growth strategy. IHS, which currently manages close to 4,000 sites, notably in Nigeria, recently announced the acquisition of 1,758 telecommunication towers in Cote d'Ivoire and in Cameroon from MTN Group, reaching around 5,700 towers under management, of which approximately 3,000 are directly owned. Wendel will invest USD 125 million, alongside IHS Holding current shareholders, who include development financial institutions and private equity firms in Africa. As the largest shareholder, Wendel will exercise a substantial influence on the governance and on the strategic decisions of IHS.
