The Biggest IPO by an African Company is Underway in the US

• IHS Holding Ltd., Africa’s largest operator of wireless towers, is considering a potential initial public offering in America.
• According to data collected by Bloomberg, it will be the biggest listing by an African corporation in the U.S. with a value by $7 billion.
• The IPO is one of at least two huge tower deals in the works.

IHS Holding Ltd., Africa’s largest operator of wireless towers, is considering a potential initial public offering in America. Wendel SE, a shareholder in the company, disclosed this today, whilst noting that the deal could become the biggest listing ever by an African company in the United States.

IHS Holding Ltd had postponed the listing earlier, explaining that the timing, the number of shares to be offered and the price range of the shares were not yet finalised.

The key Shareholder in IHS Holding Ltd

In addition to Wendel SE, a French private equity company which is the majority shareholder of IHS, other shareholders include America’s banking giant Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Africa’s leading carrier MTN Group Ltd.

The news made the rounds earlier that the tower company was choosing a U.S. listing over London as two of the top tower operators like American Tower Corp. and Crown Holdings Inc. are all headquartered in the U.S. and trade at higher valuation prices.

According to data collected by Bloomberg, it will be the biggest listing by an African corporation in the U.S. with a value of $7 billion.

IHS Holding Ltd., began to revive its plan on a stock sales despite abandoning the bid in 2018 due to international instability surrounding the general election in Nigeria, its main market.

The IPO is one of at least two huge tower deals in the works.

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About IHS

IHS is the largest mobile telecommunications infrastructure provider in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East and the third-largest independent multinational tower company globally. Founded in 2001 by Sam Darwish in Lagos, the firm specializes in the design of towers and maintenance of sites for mobile network operators.

It has activities in Kenya, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Zambia and Rwanda. After the purchases of MTN and Etisalat tower holdings in Kenya, IHS operates and maintains more than 23,000 towers in Africa.