IHS Holding Limited (IHS), the largest mobile telecoms infrastructure provider in Africa, Europe and the Middle East, has completed the acquisition of 1,211 diversified tower sites owned by Helios Towers Nigeria Limited (HTN) throughout Nigeria.
HTN and IHS established the mobile telecoms infrastructure industry in Nigeria in the early 2000s, and this latest transaction, which was announced on March 10, 2016, is their first in-market consolidation in Africa.
Meanwhile, several staff members of former HTN across Nigeria were given letters of job termination on Monday afternoon, as the human resources department of IHS took over the administration of the new acquisition.
According to an insider who craved anonymity, “the sack is not any form of witch-hunting. It is to avoid duplication of functions, as we basically do the same work in the telecoms industry. Although, every sacked worker would be well compensated.”
However, the acquisition of HTN has allowed IHS to create significant local technical and engineering employment opportunities throughout Africa.
Over 95 percent of IHS’s employees are African and IHS employs close to 40,000 people directly and indirectly through its exclusive subcontractors.
Under the terms of the latest transaction, IHS acquired the entire issued share capital of HTN and now has full operational control of the underlying business.
In spite of this, business will continue as usual for HTN’s towers, which will get integrated into the IHS network and connected to IHS’s state of the art network operating centre that monitors each tower 24 hours daily.
“IHS has a proven track record in telecoms infrastructure services and is the natural buyer of our business. We strongly believe their deep knowledge and extensive experience in the sector will help to continue the strong level of customer service achieved by HTN,” Inder Bajaj, CEO of HTN, said.
Also, Issam Darwish, executive vice chairman/group CEO of IHS, said “the completion of this transaction is significant in that it combines Africa’s two original tower companies and will enable us to strengthen our service offering to our customers, while focusing on their needs. We remain committed to the Nigerian tower market and this transaction provides IHS the opportunity to optimise a larger portfolio through innovative green energy solutions and delivery of market leading quality of service.”
The transaction, HIS says, allows for the continued delivery of best-in-class solutions to customers and additional investment in infrastructure upgrades.
IHS is committed to maintaining HTN’s existing relationship and position with its bondholders and a meeting of bondholders held on April 22, 2016, agreed to waive any redemption rights, which may have arisen in respect to the change of control.
The company says it believes the benefits of the transaction extend to all stakeholders as there are meaningful synergies that will be derived from the transaction, given a considerable part of the IHS portfolio is located in Nigeria.
It will also work to roll out its renewable energy solutions and diesel reduction initiatives, while maintaining unparalleled network uptime.
