Pan-Africa private equity firm Emerging Capital Partners has made a US$32 million investment into IHS, a leading telecommunications infrastructure solutions provider.
IHS was founded in 2001 and has grown into one of the leading tower infrastructure companies in Africa. The Company offers an end-to-end suite of telecoms infrastructure solutions and counts blue chip mobile network operators MTN, Airtel and Etisalat among its customers. IHS currently has a footprint in Nigeria, Ghana and South Sudan and plans to open offices in Uganda and Kenya early next year.
Commenting on the announcement, Isaam Darwish, CEO of IHS, says: “We are excited to partner with ECP, one of the premier pan-African private equity funds. We believe that ECP’s deep experience in the telecommunications sector and pan-African reach will be invaluable to us in our growth ambitions.”
Bryce Fort (pictured), Managing Director at ECP, adds: “With expanding coverage and capacity needs of leading mobile network operators in the increasingly competitive MNO space, we see tremendous growth potential in Africa’s shared telecommunications infrastructure sector. Tower Companies provide a strong value proposition to their customers allowing them to expand in a more capital efficient manner.
“IHS’ established track record of industry leading uptimes and long experience in managing tower infrastructure sets it apart from its competitors. IHS’ combination of collocation, build-to-suit, deployment and active and passive managed services make the company ideally suited to provide best-in-class solutions and capitalise on the growth in this sector. We believe that ECP’s investment is just the beginning of a long-term partnership with IHS. ”
ECP’s investment was made alongside Investec a leading South African investment manager, bringing the total equity round to USD52 million and year to date fundraising of equity and debt to USD250 million. Other investors in IHS include emerging market specialists IFC and FMO.
