IHS Holding Limited, the parent company of IHS Towers, an emerging markets tower company focused on Africa and Latin America, today announced that it has launched its initial public offering (IPO) of 22.5 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol IHS, which together with 3.4 million shares sold via overallotment options, could generate up to $621m through primary and secondary share sales, at a price of $24 per share.
Overall, IHS Towers is offering 18.0 million primary shares, while 4.5 million secondary shares are being offered by selling shareholders including MTN Group, Emerging Capital Partners (ECP), African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), FMO (Netherlands development bank), Goldman Sachs, and Ninety One (Investec). Notably, Wendel Group, which currently owns 21.4% of IHS Holding, will not sell any of its shares as part of the IPO.
Additionally, underwriters of IHS Holding’s offering have an option to sell an incremental 2.7 million primary shares from the company and 675k secondary shares from selling shareholders at the IPO price. Therefore, a total of 25.875 million shares could be sold by IHS Towers and selling shareholders, if the underwriters exercise their option in full.
Initial Public Offering (IPO) Pricing and Proceeds – IHS Holding
IHS Holding estimates that its initial public offering (IPO) will price between $21.00 and $24.00 per share.
Proceeds to IHS Holding at Mid-Point of IPO Price Range
Assuming an IPO price of $22.50 per share, which is the mid-point of IHS Holding’s price range estimate, the gross proceeds to the company from this offering would be $405.0m. Additionally, if the underwriters exercise their option in full, the gross proceeds to the company would rise to $465.8m.
After deducting underwriting discounts, commissions, and offering expenses IHS Holding’s net proceeds to the company would be $378.8m. Furthermore, if the underwriters exercise their option in full, the net proceeds to the company would rise to $436.5m.
Total Share Sales at Top-End of IPO Price Range
Below we assume the maximum of 25.875 million primary and secondary shares are sold by IHS Towers and selling shareholders. Also, we assume that the shares price at the top-end of the company’s IPO price range of $24.00 per share. In this scenario, the maximum aggregate offering price of IHS Holding’s IPO would be $621m.
Shares Outstanding
Upon completion of IHS Holding’s IPO, 328.1 million ordinary shares will be outstanding, trading under the symbol IHS. Additionally, assuming the underwriters exercise their option in full, 330.8 million ordinary shares will be outstanding.
Following IHS Holding’s IPO, new investors will own 6.9% of the company and existing shareholders will continue to control 93.1%. Additionally, assuming underwriters fully exercise their option, new investors will own 7.8% of IHS and existing shareholders will control 92.2%.
Valuation
Based on IHS Holding’s IPO price range of $21.00 and $24.00 per share, the company’s market capitalization will range between ~$7bn to ~$8bn, depending on the number of shares sold.
IHS Egypt – Recent Development
In addition to its IPO launch, IHS Holding disclosed developments on its expansion into a new geographic market, namely Egypt. Specifically, in October 2021, IHS Holding formed a joint venture with the Egyptian Ministry of Communications. The joint venture’s name is IHS Telecom Towers Egypt SAE (IHS Egypt).
In Egypt, IHS Holding intends to build new tower sites and acquire, operate, and/or manage portfolios of tower assets. To this end, IHS Egypt has a commitment to deploy 5.8k sites over a three-year period. Of this total, the company expects 70% (or 4.1k) will be new tower builds.
