The pan-African operator seeks to reintegrate nearly 29,000 African towers as it tests the limits of the towerco model
MTN Group has agreed to acquire the remaining 75.3% of towerco IHS Holding it does not already own, in an all-cash transaction valuing the tower company at an enterprise value of approximately $6.2 billion. The deal will see IHS delist from the New York Stock Exchange and become a wholly owned subsidiary of MTN, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.
MTN currently holds around 24.7% of IHS and has secured support from long-term shareholder Wendel, taking backing for the transaction to roughly 40% of voting shares. Crucially, the structure is designed so that, following the disposal of IHS’s Latin American businesses, MTN will own 100% of IHS’s African tower portfolio. IHS operates 28,702 towers across five key MTN markets in Africa – South Africa, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Zambia – and serves 10 out of 13 mobile network operators on the continent.
Strategic shift
For MTN, the move marks a significant shift in infrastructure strategy. Over the past decade, African operators, like their European counterparts, have carved out tower assets into separate entities or sold stakes to specialist towercos to release capital and share infrastructure. MTN itself spun out assets into IHS and retained a minority stake.
Now it is reversing that model. “This proposed transaction is a pivotal step in further strengthening MTN Group’s strategic and financial position for a future where digital infrastructure will become ever more essential to Africa’s growth and development,” said MTN Group president and CEO Ralph Mupita. “This transaction gives us a unique opportunity to buy back our towers and strengthen our ability to be partners for progress to the nation states in which we operate.”
MTN argues that full ownership will allow it to internalise lease payments, including margin currently paid to IHS, and better manage exposure to foreign exchange volatility, inflation and energy costs, all of which have weighed on African tower economics in recent years. IHS derives around 70% of its revenue from MTN, highlighting the degree of operational interdependence.
The operator also positions the deal as a way to gain tighter control over rollout, energy optimisation and network densification, particularly as 5G and fixed wireless access (FWA) requirements increase. IHS brings additional fibre assets in Nigeria, with more than 10,000 km of fibre deployed, alongside advanced power solutions and a reported average uptime of 99.5% across Africa.
Standalone business
Under the proposed structure, IHS will sit within MTN’s Digital Infrastructure platform but continue to operate as a standalone business with its own board and management. MTN says it will maintain open-access, arms-length commercial principles, serving third-party customers including competitors.
From IHS’s perspective, the transaction offers shareholders an exit at $8.50 per share in cash. The company says this represents a 239% premium over its share price at the launch of its strategic review in March 2024, and a 36% premium to its 52-week volume-weighted average price as of early February 2026.
IHS Towers chairman and CEO Sam Darwish said the deal: “creates a compelling opportunity that provides certainty and immediate returns for our shareholders, enabling them to crystallise the significant value generated during our strategic review”. He added that the transaction “deepens our long-standing partnership with MTN, as it combines Africa’s largest mobile network operator with one of its largest digital infrastructure platforms”.
The move comes alongside IHS’s agreed sale of its Latin American tower operations – around 8,860 sites in Brazil and Colombia – to Macquarie Asset Management for an enterprise value of approximately $952 million, effectively marking its exit from the region. The Macquarie deal excludes I-Systems, IHS’s Brazilian fibre unit, which is being sold separately to TIM. For MTN, Latin America is peripheral; the strategic focus is squarely on Africa.
More broadly, the transaction raises questions about the durability of the independent towerco model in emerging markets. While the model has worked for now in Europe and parts of Asia, macroeconomic volatility, currency swings, like Nigeria, and power costs have complicated long-term lease structures in several African markets.
MTN’s decision to reintegrate its towers suggests that vertical control of passive infrastructure may offer greater resilience and flexibility than long-term outsourcing, at least in some cases. If completed in 2026 as expected, the deal would create what MTN describes as the largest standalone and integrated tower company in Africa; but under the direct control of the continent’s biggest mobile operator.
