Investec Asset Management has made a follow-on private equity investment in IHS Towers, the largest African mobile telecommunications infrastructure provider.

Founded in 2001, IHS Towers is a telecommunications service provider, leasing space on towers to mobile network operators.

IHS provides services across the full tower value chain – collocation on owned towers, deployment and managed services.

Investec Africa Frontier Private Equity Fund was the first private equity investor to support IHS, investing in the business in mid-2011 along with the FMO and IFC.

Since this initial investment IHS has enjoyed significant growth – from leasing space on approximately 300 towers in Nigeria in mid-2011 to now leasing space on over 23,100 towers in 5 African countries – Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Zambia and Rwanda.

The latest equity funding round allows IHS to continue acquiring, building and integrating new towers whilst driving growth on the existing tower base.

“Investec Asset Management is proud to have supported the founders and management team in the development and growth of IHS and looks forward to continued involvement in the further development of the business,” the company said in its deal card.

Investec Asset Management is one of the largest third-party investors on the African continent.
The Private Equity strategy, which was established in 2008, focuses on growth capital and buyout investments in established mid-market and larger companies in Africa.

Investec has recently made an investment in Intelligent Debt Management, South Africa’s consumer debt management company, via its private equity fund.