May 30, 2019 – Eaton Towers Holdings, a leading independent pan-African tower company which owns and operates over 5,500 mobile telecom towers in Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Burkina Faso and Niger, today announced that it is to be acquired by American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT) (“ATC”) for approximately $1.85 billion including debt, subject to customary closing adjustments.
ATC, one of the largest global REITs, is a leading independent owner, operator and developer of multitenant communications real estate with a portfolio of over 170,000 communications sites.
Eaton Towers’ has offices in Jersey, London, Dubai and Cairo, and its primary services include building, acquiring, and maintaining passive telecommunications infrastructure assets. Eaton Towers’ customers are some of the major African mobile operators such as Airtel, MTN, Orange, Tigo, Vodacom and Vodafone.
Eaton Towers co-founder and CEO, Terry Rhodes, commented:
“To grow from an idea of a few people ten years ago to become a leader in African shared telecoms infrastructure with approximate annual revenue and EBITDA of $250m and $150 million respectively and bottom-line profitability is a unique achievement. We will work closely with ATC to ensure customers throughout our markets continue to receive outstanding levels of service. I would personally like to congratulate all 200 of our people and am very pleased that our shareholders have agreed to share the success with all our staff.”
Christian Skaanild, Director representing Capital Group Private Markets, the majority shareholder, commented:
“We are proud of what has been achieved since we made our first investment in Eaton Towers in 2011, when the African telecom towers industry was at a very nascent stage. Since then our investment has contributed to improved coverage and capacity delivering voice and data access for consumers. I would like to acknowledge the achievement of all the management and employees of Eaton Towers, as well as, the support of our co-investors and the Board of Directors.”
The other institutional shareholders include founding investor Development Partners International as well as Ethos Private Equity of South Africa and Standard Chartered Private Equity.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2019, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
