M&As in MEA boosts revenue to $265 million
This year’s merger and acquisition spree in Africa has boosted the revenue of tower company Helios Towers by 25% to over $265m, according to its latest yearly figures and new CEO Tom Greenwood has said more are planned.
The telecoms infrastructure builder for the Middle East and Africa has swelled the ranks of its phone tower to 10,700 across both regions by adding 2,000 in the past year.
In March the London-listed towerco closed the acquisition of Airtel Africa’s telecom towers business in Malawi, adding 723 sites to its portfolio for $55 million (€50 million). One fifth of this funding came through a local Malawian shareholding backed by the Old Mutual Infrastructure Investment Trust Fund, according to a Helios statement. At the time the assets were expected to generate revenue of €20.87 million ($23 million) and adjusted earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of €7.26 million ($8 million) to Helios in its first full year of ownership. A further 60 ‘build-to-suits’ (AKA customised constructions) will be committed over the next three years as well as ‘colocation lease-ups’, Helios added.
In May it agreed with Rakiza Telecommunication Infrastructure (RTI), a subsidiary of the Oman Infrastructure Fund, to share ownership of a new holding company, Omantel Telecommunications Company (OTC) in a deal set to expedite the networking of Oman. In the deal Helios acquired Omantel’s passive tower infrastructure portfolio of 2,890 sites for $575 million (£459.5m) in cash, representing an enterprise value of $615 million, including estimated transaction costs and capitalised ground leases of $40m. Helios Towers took a 70% stake in OTC, with RTI holding the minority 30% share.
Helios intends to keep pushing on with its acquisitions, it said, and it will allow for capital expenditure of around $810m to $850m for this year, with acquisitions comprising $650m of the cashpot in 2022 alone.
“We delivered strong organic tenancy growth in the first half of the year,” said Tom Greenwood in his first statement as the new chief executive, “when combined with the successful integration of acquired assets in Senegal, Madagascar and Malawi that has resulted in impressive year-on-year financial performance.” Former CEO Kash Pandya has left after seven years in charge.