Independent cellphone tower operator Eaton Towers has secured US$150m in equity funding from Capital International Private Equity Funds (Cipef), a private equity investor that focuses on emerging markets.

The funding will be used to acquire, build and develop telecommunications towers across Africa for both existing and new projects, Eaton says.

Since inception in 1992, Cipef has invested approximately $3bn in equity in about 75 emerging market companies, especially those involved in telecoms and related infrastructure.

Cipef joins existing Eaton shareholder African Development Partners I, a private equity fund advised by Development Partners International, in funding the business.

Eaton CEO Alan Harper says the Cipef deal will give “further momentum” to the company’s efforts to “become a major independent provider of shared tower facilities across Africa”.

The company expects to raise “significant additional debt” on the back of the investment.

Eaton was founded by Harper — who was formerly on the executive committee of Vodafone — and by former Celtel director Terry Rhodes and former Orange CEO Sanjiv Ahuja.

The company says the new funding will allow it to buy additional tower portfolios from operators and build new towers on which it will sell co-location and shared infrastructure facilities to mobile operators.

In October 2010, Eaton Towers signed a 10-year contract to take over the operations and co-location management of 750 telecoms towers for Vodafone Ghana and the company says it is well advanced with plans to extend its operations across other parts of Africa.

It is yet to win a deal in SA, where Cell C recently sold a big chunk of its tower portfolio to Eaton rival American Tower Corp. — Staff reporter, TechCentral