IHS Raises $490m for African Towers Expansion

IHS Holdings, African tower network operator has secured $490 million in additional funding for its expansion plans.

Support from existing investors was combined with strong participation from Goldman Sachs, the IFC Global Infrastructure Fund and African Infrastructure Investment Managers.

This funding round brings the total amount of capital raised by IHS to more than $1.5 billion over the past year.

IHS said that it will utilise the proceeds to finance acquisitions, expand coverage and capacity by building new towers and continue investing in alternative energy supplies for rural base stations that lack access to a reliable electricity grid.

Issam Darwish, vice chairman and chief executive officer, IHS, said: "This important milestone confirms the broadening investor interest in the African telecommunications infrastructure space generally, and in IHS, in particular."

IHS Towers currently owns and manages over 10,500 towers and has built over 3,500 for its clients across Nigeria, Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire, making it Africa's largest independent mobile infrastructure provider by number of towers managed. In Q4 2013, IHS signed agreements with MTN in Zambia and Rwanda to acquire over 1,200 sites in Zambia and Rwanda