Airtel Africa sells Malawian tower asset to Helios for $54.7m
Airtel Africa announced on Friday that it had closed a transaction to sell its telecommunication tower company in Malawi to Helios Towers for a consideration price of $54.7 million.
In a corporate action seen by Business Insider Africa, the telco explained that “under the terms of the transaction, Airtel Africa’s subsidiary in Malawi will continue to develop, maintain and operate its equipment on the towers under separate lease arrangements, largely made in local currencies, with the purchaser”.
Helios Towers had earlier in February notified its stakeholders about the impending transaction. The company also noted that plans to acquire Airtel’s other tower assets in Gabon would be finalised by the second half of 2022.
The latest asset sale in Malawi demonstrates Airtel Africa’s determination to divest virtually all of its passive tower assets across Africa.
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Recall that Airtel Africa had in January 2022 disclosed that it was in the process of selling its Tanzanian tower assets to a joint venture (JV) led by SBA Communications Corporation and Paradigm Infrastructure Limited. This was for a consideration price of $176.1 million.
More so, the telco announced last November that it had sold its telecommunications tower company in Madagascar to Helios Towers Plc for $51.7 million.
Business Insider Africa understands that the company would use part of the money realised from these asset sales to upgrade its network infrastructure across some of its key markets, as well as to offset some of its group debts.
Airtel Africa has operations in 14 African countries and is listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) where its stock closed today’s trading with a share price of $3 (N1,260).
