IHS Holding Restricted has agreed to be acquired by MTN Group Restricted in an all-cash transaction valued at roughly $6.2 billion, marking one of many largest digital infrastructure offers in Africa and successfully reversing years of tower divestments by the continent’s greatest cell operator.
Below the merger settlement introduced Tuesday, shareholders of IHS Holding Restricted will obtain $8.50 per peculiar share in money. The provide represents a 239 % premium to the corporate’s share value when it introduced a strategic evaluate on March 12, 2024, a 36 % premium to its 52-week volume-weighted common value as of February 4, 2026, and a 3 % premium to its unaffected closing value of $8.23 on that very same date.
The transaction will see MTN, Africa’s largest cell community operator by subscribers, transition from being a serious tenant and minority shareholder in IHS to full proprietor. Upon completion, IHS will delist from the New York Inventory Trade and turn out to be a completely owned subsidiary of MTN.
Strategic reversal
For MTN, the deal represents a decisive shift. Over the previous decade, many African telecom operators offered tower belongings to unbiased infrastructure corporations to unlock capital and cut back stability sheet strain. MTN itself had lowered its direct publicity to tower possession, retaining a roughly 24% totally diluted stake in IHS previous to the settlement.
Now, as knowledge demand surges and digital infrastructure turns into more and more strategic, MTN is transferring to regain direct management.
Ralph Mupita, group president and CEO, MTN Group described the proposed acquisition as a pivotal step in strengthening MTN’s strategic and monetary place in a future the place digital infrastructure will probably be central to Africa’s improvement. He stated the deal would improve MTN’s capacity to companion with governments and help long-term connectivity progress throughout its markets.
Learn additionally: IHS Towers exits Brazil Fiber in $453m deal to refocus on higher-return assets
Shareholder backing secured
The board of IHS unanimously authorized the settlement and advisable that shareholders vote in favor. MTN has dedicated to vote all its shares in help of the deal, whereas long-term shareholder Wendel has additionally issued a letter backing the transaction. Collectively, they account for greater than 40% of shareholder help already secured.
Sam Darwish, chairman and CEO of IHS, stated the settlement provides shareholders certainty and rapid worth realization following a strategic evaluate launched throughout a interval of macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility throughout key markets.
Based 25 years in the past with a single tower in a single market, IHS grew into one of many world’s largest unbiased tower corporations by depend, working in 11 international locations and managing roughly 40,000 towers at its peak.
Learn additionally: IHS Towers confirms MTN’s acquisition interest amid ongoing talks
Funding construction and situations
The transaction will probably be financed by a mix of MTN rolling over its present stake in IHS, roughly $1.1 billion in money from MTN, about $1.1 billion from IHS’s personal stability sheet, and the rollover of present IHS debt. The corporate should additionally retain a minimal of $355 million in money at closing.
Completion of the deal, anticipated in 2026, is topic to shareholder and regulatory approvals. Sure funding situations are linked to the profitable sale of IHS’s Latin American tower operations and its fiber enterprise, each introduced earlier in February.
J.P. Morgan is advising IHS on the transaction, whereas BofA Securities and Citigroup World Markets are advising MTN.
A sign to the market
Past the monetary metrics, the deal alerts a broader recalibration in Africa’s telecom infrastructure panorama. After years of asset-light methods and tower carve-outs, operators are more and more reassessing the strategic worth of infrastructure possession amid rising knowledge consumption, geopolitical uncertainty, and the push for digital sovereignty.
If accomplished, the acquisition will create the most important standalone and built-in tower firm in Africa below MTN’s management, tightening the alignment between community operations and bodily infrastructure in a area the place connectivity stays each a industrial battleground and a improvement crucial.
