Pan African Telecoms Services company, IHS Towers, listed 18,000,000 shares at $21.00 per share at its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.
Founded in Nigeria in 2001 by Chairman and CEO, Sam Darwish, IHS Towers is one of the largest independent owners, operators and developers of shared telecommunications infrastructure in the world. It is the largest independent tower operator in six of the nine markets in which they operate, and the only independent tower operator in five of these markets, with approximately 30,200 towers in its portfolio.
This IPO is the largest in the U.S. by an African business.
According to Sam Darwish in his telephone conversation with Bloomberg, he said, “Proceeds will be used to build within our current markets, and move into new markets.” “We have high growth markets that require new sites,” he added. Currently, the group’s Africa markets are Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Zambia, Rwanda and Cameroon.
Before this IPO, MTN Group Ltd., Africa’s largest mobile-phone company, was the biggest shareholder in IHS with a 29% stake before the IPO. However after the listing, MTN will have just over 85 million shares, valued at $1.46 billion based at current prices.
According to MTN CEO Ralph Mupita, “The listing gives MTN a strong liquidity platform that will support the group’s strategy of accelerating growth in its African markets, de-leveraging and strengthening the balance sheet.”
