Airtel to sell tower firms in Madagascar, Malawi for $108m
Airtel Africa has announced the signing of agreements to sell its telecommunications tower companies in Madagascar and Malawi to Helios Towers Plc, a telecommunications infrastructure company in Africa.
The telecommunications company’s tower portfolios in the two markets together comprise 1,229 towers, which form part of the Group’s wireless telecommunications infrastructure network, according to a statement.
It said, “The transactions, comprising two separate agreements, one in respect of each jurisdiction, are subject to customary closing conditions including required regulatory approvals and are not interconditional on each other.
“The transactions are expected to close in or around calendar Q4 2021. The aggregate gross consideration for the transactions is expected to be approximately $108 million.”
Airtel Africa said under the terms of the transactions, its subsidiaries would continue to develop, maintain and operate their equipment on the towers under separate lease arrangements, largely made in local currencies, with the purchaser.
It also announced that it had entered into exclusive Memorandum of Understanding agreements for the potential sale of its tower assets in Chad and Gabon to Helios Towers.
The telco said the proceeds from the transactions and the proposed transactions would be used to reduce its external debt and to invest in network and sales infrastructure in the respective operating countries.
The Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Africa, Raghunath Mandava, said, “With these latest tower transactions, we continue to demonstrate strong execution of our asset monetisation programme.
“Helios Towers has been a partner to our business in some of the OPCOs for many years and we look forward to further expanding this partnership with these new leases as we together seek to improve mobile connectivity and infrastructure across Africa.”
He said the transactions would also help to improve the mix of the group’s debt and increase its tenor through long-term leases, which he said were largely payable in local currency by the telco’s operating entities, while reducing its foreign currency debt.