The towerco will use the proceeds to reduce debt, consider share buybacks and perhaps even a dividend but all eyes will be on what Paradigm does next
IHS Towers announced the completion of the sale of 100% of IHS Rwanda including its around 1,467 sites to Paradigm Tower Ventures for $274.5 million. The sale of the company’s Rwanda operations is part of IHS Towers’ strategic initiatives targeted at shareholder value-creation options.
The deal was done through the Paradigm Infrastructure Holdings (PIH) vehicle, as part of a consortium with Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund, British International Investment, and Société de Promotion et de Participation pour la Coopération Economique. JPMorgan acted as financial advisor to IHS Towers on this transaction.
Paradigm Infrastructure was founded by Stephen Harris, Hal Hess and Steven Marshall, experienced former executives of global and African tower businesses including American Tower Corporation. Paradigm Infrastructure owns 30% of Minara Tanzania, that operates approximately 1,800 sites that provide shared infrastructure services to the leading mobile network operators in Tanzania.
The acquisition of 100% of the equity in IHS Rwanda marked the first investment by Paradigm’s new Sub-Saharan African tower platform, Paradigm Tower Ventures, which is focused on the growth of new build shared wireless infrastructure in sub–Saharan Africa. Paradigm is backed by a consortium of equity and debt finance providers, including Convergence Partners and Rand Merchant Bank, a division of FirstRand Bank, which acted as mandated lead arranger, sole funder and financial advisor to Paradigm Tower Ventures.
“Rwanda represents an exciting market with high demand for shared wireless infrastructure. The Paradigm team is very much looking forward to building a strong customer focused business providing high quality and secure infrastructure to mobile network operators,” said Harris at the time of the announcement in May.
Now the deal is as good as done barring the odd sign-off here and there, attention will now turn to Paradigm becoming an active player in the Rwandan market. The Rwandan Public Utilities Regulatory Authority’s (RURA) figures show MTN Rwanda holds a 63.2% market share as of 31 March. Its main competitor, Airtel Rwanda, accounts for 36.8%.
As of December 2024, Rwanda had 13,287,329 mobile subscriptions, up slightly from 13,280,844 in November – a 0.05% increase. Postpaid subscriptions rose from 156,887 to 157,470, while prepaid subscriptions grew from 13,123,957 to 13,129,859. Year-on-year, total mobile subscriptions increased by 4.1%, from 12,763,076 in December 2023 to 13,287,329 in December 2024.
