IHS Holding attempts for $7bn Initial Public Offering in U.S.A

The largest independent owner of shared telecommunications infrastructure in the Africa, IHS Holding attempts for $7bn Initial Public Offering in U.S.A.

The company has commenced an initial public offering of 22,500,000 ordinary shares, 18,000,000 of which are being offered by IHS Towers and 4,500,000 of which are being offered by certain selling shareholders.

The underwriters of the offering will also have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2,700,000 ordinary shares from IHS Towers and 675,000 ordinary shares from the selling shareholders at the initial public offering price.

Per share of the initial public offering is estimated to be between $21 and $24, the company will be listing its ordinary shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “IHS.”

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Citigroup Global Markets Inc.will act as joint lead book-running managers for the proposed offering.

RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Barclays Capital Inc. and Absa Bank Limited are acting as joint book- running managers for the proposed offering. Cowen and Company, LLC, Investec Bank plc, Renaissance Securities (Cyprus) Limited, FirstRand Bank Limited (London Branch), acting through its Rand Merchant Bank division, Academy Securities, Inc., Loop Capital Markets LLC, Samuel A. Ramirez & Company, Inc., Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC and Tigress Financial Partners LLC are acting as co-managers for the proposed offering.

The IHS offering also marks another stage in a boom in infrastructure investment focused on boosting internet adoption in African markets. As well as investor interest in phone masts, data centre operators and subsea cables supplying the continent have also attracted international capital in recent months, a trend accelerated by the pandemic.

IHS reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of $490m and profit of $77m in the six months to the end of June. The group’s debts are about two times its adjusted ebitda over the past year.