The African telecom world has undergone a small revolution. On 4 October 2021, IHS Towers, Africa’s first telecom infrastructure provider (‘towerco’), was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Its objective is to raise around $380m in net proceeds and reach a valuation of more than $7bn, including debt. This would make it the largest ever listing for an African company.
Portfolio diversification
This listing comes less than two years after that of its competitor Helios Towers, which has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since October 2019. The two towercos had first tried their luck back in 2018 but then gave up, notably because of the instability of the African markets in which they operated. Today, they have diversified their portfolio and are enjoying strong growth.
IHS has nearly 30,000 towers in five African countries (Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Zambia and Rwanda) as
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