Fresh from investment boost, IHS makes deal with Visafone

Nigerian CDMA network operator, Visafone Communications has agreed to sell and lease-back 459 towers to infrastructure operator IHS Nigeria for an undisclosed amount. The agreement follows shortly after IHS’ US$200 million equity and debt financing by IFC, Investec Asset Management, FMO and Standard Bank.

The investment deal, which closed in July, will allow IHS to further grow its portfolio of towers in the coming months. Upon signing this agreement with Visafone, its second sale and lease back transaction, IHS CEO Issam Darwish, confirmed the company’s vision for further growth.

“We aim to become one of the leading pan-African telecom infrastructure solutions providers, and following this successful agreement we plan to further increase our Nigerian tower base to over 1,000 sites by the end of the year,” he said.

IHS is also the largest managed services provider in sub-Saharan Africa, with more than 3,500 sites under management.

Listed on the Nigerian bourse since 2008, IHS is seeking to expand into other markets in Africa and the Middle East.