Documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show that IHS shareholders will vote on the proposed deal at an extraordinary general meeting in London later this year. 

If approved, MTN will acquire all remaining shares in IHS for $8.50 per share in cash and remove the company from the New York Stock Exchange.

The offer values IHS at an implied equity value of about $2.9 billion, excluding its Latin American operations. The price also represents a 9.7% premium to the company’s 30-day volume-weighted average share price as of February 4, 2026.

MTN plans to fund the transaction with about $1.1 billion from IHS’s existing balance sheet and another $1.1 billion from its own liquidity and debt facilities.

The deal already has support from shareholders controlling more than 40% of voting rights. MTN’s subsidiary, Mobile Telephone Networks Holdings, agreed to vote its 85.2 million shares in favour of the transaction. Those shares account for roughly 21.1% of IHS voting power.

Another major investor, Oranje-Nassau Développement, linked to French investment group Wendel, also committed its support. The firm controls about 63 million shares, representing nearly 19.6% of voting rights.

MTN investor documents indicate that shareholders representing around 46% of voting power are already aligned behind the transaction ahead of the meeting.

IHS’s board has also endorsed the acquisition. “The board unanimously authorised and approved the execution, delivery and performance of the merger agreement,” the company said in the filing.

Once completed, the transaction will end IHS’s run as a publicly traded company, just five years after its New York listing in 2021. The company had positioned itself as an independent infrastructure provider serving several mobile operators across Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.

Still, MTN has been one of its biggest customers and shareholders for years.

The acquisition will also give MTN direct ownership of a large part of the infrastructure supporting its mobile operations across Africa. IHS operates about 28,700 towers across its markets, including roughly 15,942 towers in Nigeria, where it holds an estimated 41 per cent market share.

MTN operates in all of IHS’s African markets, including Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Zambia.

Telecom operators across Africa have moved to take greater control of critical infrastructure as inflation, currency pressure and network costs squeeze margins.

In 2024, Airtel launched Airtel Africa Fibre to manage its 70,000-kilometre fibre network directly. Safaricom followed in 2025 by taking control of power systems at its telecom sites and deploying its own solar infrastructure instead of relying fully on tower-management contractors.

The IHS deal is expected to reduce dependence on third-party tower companies for MTN, while improving network management and foreign exchange risk control across key markets.

The filing also showed that employee stock awards under IHS’s incentive plans will be converted into cash payments based on the $8.50 offer price if the transaction goes through.

The merger still requires approval from at least two-thirds of votes cast at the shareholder meeting before it can proceed.

The company made the assertion after the meeting it held with His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), New York recently.

Ayotade Oyinlola, EVP, and Chief HR Officer of IHS Towers, said the company’s story epitomizes the potential of Nigerian companies on the global stage.

“In an era where connectivity serves as the lifeblood of societies and economies, IHS Towers stands as a beacon of success, demonstrating how a company that started in Nigeria can expand to become a global powerhouse. In a little over two decades, IHS has evolved into a multinational telecom infrastructure giant with operations in 11 countries across three continents and impacting the lives of over 750 million people.”

He noted that, despite the company’s expansive global footprint, which includes a remarkable global tower count of nearly 40,000 across Nigeria, Brazil, Cameroun, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Kuwait, Peru, Rwanda, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, and Zambia, the company proudly maintains its Nigerian identity.

Colby Synesael, EVP of Communications, further informed that IHS Towers plays the role of a global corporate ambassador building investor confidence internationally.

“As the fifth-largest independent multinational tower company globally in terms of tower count, IHS exemplifies efficiency and scale. The company made history by becoming the first Nigerian-rooted company to be publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2021, which symbolizes Nigeria’s immense potential on the world stage, fostering global investor engagement, and playing a significant role in educating international investors on the advantages of investing in Nigeria.”

Synesael listed some of the achievements the company has recorded which have made it a significant bedrock within the telecommunications value chain in the country to include lowering entry barriers and enhancing cost-effectiveness for telecommunications stakeholders.

“IHS’s substantial investments in passive infrastructure, including leasing tower space to providers, such as mobile network operators and internet service providers, has effectively lowered entry barriers and enhanced cost-effectiveness, enabling these providers to expand their operations. Also, with the ownership of over 16,000 towers in Nigeria and the deployment of 6,500 kilometres of metro optic fibre across 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), IHS has facilitated the expansion of telecom services, ensuring that more Nigerians have access to connectivity than ever before.”

According to him, these giant strides have led to diverse portfolio of services includes optic fibre connectivity, rural telephony, and cutting-edge solutions such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Edge Data Centre thereby bridging the digital divide and ensuring connectivity for all.

Oyinlola noted various other contributions the company is making towards the growth and development of the country.

Some of these contributions include being part of the telecommunications sector’s 16.06 percent contribution to the country’s GDP, according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics; job creation including over 1,100 direct employees and an additional 40,000 indirect employees, including contractors spanning diverse sectors like power/energy utility, logistics, real estate, oil and gas, civil engineering, and core telecommunications in Nigeria.

On the corporate social responsibility sphere, the IHS Towers’ Mission T project has provided digital learning opportunities to over 550,000 students, equipping them with essential digital skills for the future. Furthermore, its collaboration with UNICEF on the School Connectivity project has impacted the lives of 70,000 Nigerian students across 187 schools in 15 states.

Also, according to the company, it has been at the forefront of advocating for sustainable, green energy solutions.

In 2022 alone, the company dedicated a substantial investment of over $100 million to its Project Green initiative.

This initiative is geared towards reducing carbon emissions across IHS Towers’ extensive network of over 16,000 sites in Nigeria by a commendable 50 percent by the year 2030.