An auspicious panel of investors in towers convened at the TowerXchange Meetup Africa in October 2014. Moderated by expert advisor Enda Hardiman of Hardiman Telecommunications, the panel included Ed Stumpf from AIIM, Ayman Al Adl from Standard Chartered Bank, Aniko Szigetvari from the IFC, and Nina Triantis from Standard Bank. . The debate spanned the maturation of the asset class, the growing preference for SLB deals, and the structure of African tower markets both in terms of the number of active towercos and potential consolidation of MNOs.
Maturation of the asset class
Enda Hardiman, Managing Partner of of Hardiman Telecommunications, kicked off the panel with a comparison of the maturation of investment in African telecoms, from the days when pioneers like Mo Ibrahim of Celtel were first movers to the established entities we see today, with the similar maturity achieved in the tower sector; pioneering TMT funds and development banks moved first into African towers, then as the asset class proved itself, more hard-nosed private equity capital is now moving in.
