IHS Holding has secured another $490 million in funding, taking the total it has raised for its African expansion plans in the past year to $1.5 billion.
The UK-based group, which claims to be Africa's largest independent telecommunications infrastructure company by the number of towers managed, has sourced the funding through a combination of debt and equity, with the bulk raised through equity.
IHS has been present in Africa for 12 years, and its IHS Towers unit owns and manages more than 10 500 towers for cellular companies in Nigeria, Cameroon and C^ote d'Ivoire. The holding company also plans to expand its operations across the rest of the continent and the Middle East.
Existing investors and entities such as Goldman Sachs, the IFC Global Infrastructure Fund and African Infrastructure Investment Managers took part in the capital-raising, which will be used to fund deals, finance acquisitions, build more towers and continue investing in alternative energy and green solutions.
CEO and vice-chairman Issam Darwish says the investment is an "important milestone" that "confirms the broadening investor interest in the African telecommunications infrastructure space generally, and in IHS, in particular".
The new investment follows its mid-2013 announcement that it had signed up $522 million in debt and equity. That raising was set to be used to construct more than 1 000 build-to-suit towers in Nigeria, C^ote d'Ivoire and Cameroon, solar and energy-efficiency solutions, and to fund further expansion into new markets.
At the end of last year, MTN said it was selling its 1 228 towers in Rwanda and Zambia to IHS.
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