Airtel’s tower sale has driven African towercos to the tipping point; achieving scale and diversification of country and counterparty risk. TowerXchange expect the last of the Airtel African towers to be sold by the end of Q2 2015, raising ~$2.5bn. All the towers have been sold on a pure sale and leaseback basis, with the respective towercos acquiring 100% equity in Airtel’s African towers. Here’s how TowerXchange understand the Airtel towers are going to be divided among the towercos, in the process drawing Helios Towers Africa, Eaton Towers and American Tower into several new countries.
TowerXchange understand that Helios Towers Africa has added 3,100 of Airtel’s towers to their existing assets, including all of Airtel’s towers in Tanzania and DRC, where Helios Towers Africa is the sole towerco and is marketing significantly more than half of each country’s towers.
