TMT Finance quote an ’unnamed source’ that MTN is in ’formal discussions’ with American Tower to acquire assets in a private sale, rather than through the usual auction process. Tech Central suggests that MTN has ’moved to play down the report’. TMT Finance tend to have the ear of certain key investment managers, so there may be enough smoke to suggest a fire, so we’ll explain the obvious reasons why people are putting two and two together in this case.
With MTN owning approximately 6,000 towers (and co-located on a further 2,000 towers) in South Africa, if a portfolio of consisting of the majority of their assets did come to market, American Tower may be the only African towerco with immediate access to the necessary capital to partner MTN in such a transaction.