MTN Group has agreed to acquire IHS Holding Ltd. in an all-cash transaction valued at $6.2 billion, in a move set to reshape Africa’s digital infrastructure landscape.
IHS announced Tuesday that shareholders will receive $8.50 per share — a 239% premium to its share price at the start of its strategic review in March 2024. The board unanimously approved the deal and recommended it to shareholders.
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MTN has committed to vote its shares in favour of the transaction, while long-term shareholder Wendel also pledged support, securing over 40% backing ahead of the vote. Upon completion, IHS will be delisted and become a wholly owned subsidiary of MTN.
Chairman and CEO of IHS Towers, Sam Darwish, described the deal as “a compelling opportunity that provides certainty and immediate returns for shareholders,” enabling them to crystallise value generated during the strategic review initiated amid geopolitical and macroeconomic volatility.
He added that the transaction deepens IHS’s long-standing partnership with MTN, combining Africa’s largest mobile operator with one of its largest digital infrastructure platforms. Darwish thanked employees, customers and partners, noting that IHS has grown over 25 years from a single tower in one market to an 11-country portfolio of about 40,000 towers at its peak.
MTN Group President and CEO, Ralph Mupita, called the acquisition “a pivotal step” in strengthening MTN’s strategic and financial position as digital infrastructure becomes increasingly critical to Africa’s growth.
“This transaction gives us a unique opportunity to buy back our towers and strengthen our ability to be partners for progress to the nation-states in which we operate,” Mupita said, pledging continued high service standards and strong governance across what he described as Africa’s largest standalone and integrated tower company.
The deal, expected to close in 2026, is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. It will be funded through the rollover of MTN’s roughly 24% fully diluted stake in IHS, $1.1 billion in cash from MTN, $1.1 billion from IHS’s balance sheet, and the rollover of existing IHS debt. IHS must also maintain a minimum cash balance of $355 million at closing.
Completion partly depends on the successful sale of IHS’s Latin American tower and fibre operations, announced in February 2026.
