Millicom on Wednesday announced that it will take a 24% stake in Helios Towers Africa following a reshuffle of various shareholdings.
Essentially, the telco will exchange its various stakes in three of Helios Towers Africa’s (HTA’s) national operating companies fo r a stake in the parent company.
The current structure dates back to 2010, when Millicom sold off 2,450 telecoms towers in Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania to HTA’s local towers companies in those markets. It retained equity stakes in each company as part of those deals.
"This transaction will simplify the share ownership structure of HTA, align interest among shareholders and move Millicom’s shareholding to the parent HTA company," the telco said, in a statement.
"The transaction does not change access to commercially sensitive information, which is held exclusively by HTA," it added.
Millicom explained that HTA recently raised US$363 million in new equity to fund acquisitions and facilitate growth in existing markets. The share exchange will take place at the same valuation as that funding round, it said.
