MTN Group has agreed to take over the approximately 75% stake in mobile infrastructure company IHS Holding Limited that it doesn’t already own for $2.2 billion in cash (around R35.2 billion), uniting Africa’s biggest wireless carrier with one of the continent’s largest tower operators.
IHS investors will get $8.50 per share, the companies said in statements on Tuesday.
The price is a 3% premium to the IHS’s closing share price on 4 February, before Bloomberg News reported on the plans, and a 9.7% premium to the 30-day average as of that day.
The deal values the entire company at about $6.2 billion (around R99.4 billion) including debt.
The deal gives MTN direct ownership of infrastructure that it previously leased and marks a shift from its earlier strategy of divesting tower assets.
The additional control puts MTN in a position to cut leasing costs and deepen its role in Africa’s telecommunications
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