Wireless towers operator IHS Holding is exploring a potential initial public offering, shareholder Wendel said on Tuesday, in a deal that could be the biggest listing ever by an African company in the US.
IHS on Friday flagged the listing, saying the timing, number of shares to be offered and price range of the proposed offering are yet to be determined.
Bloomberg News reported in February that IHS Holding had selected Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase & Co as global coordinators for a listing that could value Africa’s largest operator of wireless towers at as much as US$7-billion. At that size it would be the largest IPO in the US by an African company.
Besides Wendel, a French buyout firm, IHS’s owners include Goldman Sachs Group and South African wireless carrier MTN Group. The company started reviving work on a share sale late last year after scrapping plans back in 2018 due to uncertainty around a presidential vote in Nigeria, its main market.
The IPO is one of at least two big tower offerings that’s in the works. Vodafone Group said last month that it will list its mobile masts business in Frankfurt next year. — Reported by Swetha Gopinath, (c) 2020 Bloomberg LP
