African based Telecoms tower operator, Helios Towers, plans to list on the London Stock Exchange in early April 2018.
According to a Reuters report, this statement was made on Friday last week and it is with an expected valuation of about 2 billion pounds ($2.75 billion)
This is the third mobile tower operator scheduled to float in 2018 apart from IHS Towers and Eaton Towers. This listing is to provide funds for infrastructure as it sees the increased use of smartphones and demand for data as a sign of economic growth and it hopes to take advantage of this
“The demographics and growth prospects of the countries we serve are compelling and, with our well invested towers base, we can continue to meet the needs of mobile network operators,” said CEO Kash Pandya, adding that this will boost margins and top-line growth.
The company, which raised $600 million through a bond issue last year, also filed for a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).
Helios Towers owns about 6,600 telecoms towers in Ghana, Tanzania, Congo Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It is owned by telecoms companies Millicom and Bharti Airtel and hedge funds including Soros Fund Management and Rothschild Investment Trust Capital Partners.
In 2017 it reported core profit of $146 million on revenue of $345 million, with net debt up 57 percent at $595.2 million.
