The leading pan-African private equity firm Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) has invested US$32 million into IHS, a leading telecommunications infrastructure solutions provider.
IHS was founded in 2001 and has grown into one of the leading tower infrastructure companies in Africa. The Company offers an end-to-end suite of telecoms infrastructure solutions and counts blue chip mobile network operators MTN, Airtel and Etisalat among its customers. IHS currently has a footprint in Nigeria, Ghana and South Sudan and plans to open offices in Uganda and Kenya early next year.
Commenting on the announcement, Isaam Darwish, CEO of IHS said, “We are excited to partner with ECP, one of the premier pan-African private equity funds. We believe that ECP’s deep experience in the telecommunications sector and pan-African reach will be invaluable to us in our growth ambitions.”
Bryce Fort, Managing Director at ECP, added, “With expanding coverage and capacity needs of leading mobile network operators in the increasingly competitive MNO space, we see tremendous growth potential in Africa’s shared telecommunications infrastructure sector. IHS’ combination of collocation, build-to-suit, deployment and active and passive managed services make the company ideally suited to provide best-in-class solutions and capitalize on the growth in this sector.”
ECP’s investment was made alongside Investec a leading South African investment manager, bringing the total equity round to US$52 million and year to date fundraising of equity and debt to US$250 million. Other investors in IHS include emerging market specialists IFC and FMO.
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