With a deal reached yesterday to purchase IHS Towers, the largest independent towers, operators, and developers of shared communication infrastructure worldwide, at an enterprise value of roughly $6.2 billion, MTN Group has regained its old telecom towers that it first sold to IHS Towers in a dramatic business turnabout.
The agreement came after weeks of discussions between the two sides, which were finally reached yesterday. The deal was approved by the IHS Towers Board of Directors unanimously, and shareholders were advised to proceed with it. IHS Towers, which was founded in Nigeria in 2001, expanded to become one of the biggest tower operators in the world by acquiring telecom towers that were previously constructed and run by MTN Nigeria and other Nigerian telecom providers.
According to Sam Darwish; chairman and CEO of IHS Towers, the deal offers a strong chance to solidify the value that has been accumulated during the company’s 25-year history. As digital infrastructure became more and more essential to the continent’s economic development, MTN’s Group President and CEO; Ralph Mupita, stated that the deal will improve the company’s financial and strategic standing.
The merger deal stipulates that IHS shareholders will receive $8.50 in cash for each ordinary share, which is a small 3% premium to the company’s unaffected closing price of $8.23 on February 4, 2026, and a 36% premium to its 52-week volume-weighted average price.
With the agreement, MTN, a South African company, reverses a ten-year trend in the industry toward outsourced tower leasing and regains direct control of hundreds of towers it first constructed before selling to IHS. The operator will have more flexibility over the upcoming deployment of 5G and fiber and long-term rental costs will be reduced for MTN if it regains possession of the assets.
The offer price was 36% higher than the 52-week volume weighted average price of IHS’s stock and 3% higher than its closing price on February 4, when it was reported that negotiations with MTN were underway, the company stated.
