{"id":627960,"date":"2026-02-05T10:31:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T08:31:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=627960"},"modified":"2026-02-05T10:33:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T08:33:57","slug":"mtn-could-buy-the-company-that-bought-its-towers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/business-telecoms\/627960-mtn-could-buy-the-company-that-bought-its-towers.html","title":{"rendered":"MTN could buy the company that bought its towers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>MTN says it is in advanced discussions with IHS Holdings Limited to acquire the 75% of shares in the company it doesn&#8217;t already own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the cellular network operator, its potential offer price is near the latest IHS trading price on the New York Stock Exchange as of 4 February 2025, which was around $3.56 (R58).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;MTN has noted recent speculation regarding the company&#8217;s intentions with respect to its stake in IHS Holdings Limited,&#8221; MTN said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;No final agreement has been reached, and there is no certainty of the transaction concluding.&nbsp;The transaction, if concluded, may have a material effect on the price of the company&#8217;s securities.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MTN advised shareholders to exercise caution when dealing in its securities until further announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Should the transaction not materialise, MTN will continue to explore options to unlock value from its investment in IHS and remains committed to its disciplined capital allocation framework,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>IHS Holding Limited acquired 5,709 cellular towers from MTN in South Africa in June 2022 for R6.4 billion cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These included 4,000 greenfield and 1,700 rooftop sites. The proceeds were to be reinvested through strategic growth initiatives, such as securing high-demand spectrum frequencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MTN emphasised that the deal was only for its passive infrastructure, being the physical towers themselves, and added that its agreement with IHS was reached after a lengthy competitive process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The transaction will also include the outsourcing of power and related services across the entire MTN SA site footprint of approximately 12,800,&#8221; said MTN, adding that the deal aims to ensure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Limited financial impact on MTN SA&#8217;s current running costs versus leaseback costs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Improved network performance, including improved power management<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Flexibility to maximise the benefit of MTN SA&#8217;s active network sharing, including agreements in place with Cell C and Telkom<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Local currency exposure, that is, all payments in rand<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A minimum 30% Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) ownership<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cooperation between MTN and IHS to work towards the group&#8217;s emissions targets aligned with net-zero by 2040 for scope 3 emissions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>MTN said the transaction would enable it to service its retail and wholesale clients more efficiently while creating substantial value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MTN said it has barter arrangements on around 2,000 sites that are not being monetised as part of this transaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Completion of the transaction is subject to certain conditions precedent, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in Q1 2022,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MTN says no final agreement has been reached and that there&#8217;s no certainty of the transaction concluding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":590463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41906],"tags":[78742,72394,42,19188],"class_list":["post-627960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-telecoms","tag-ihs-holding-limited","tag-ihs-towers","tag-mtn","tag-mtn-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627960"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627960"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":627975,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627960\/revisions\/627975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}