African telecoms firm Helios Towers revives London listing plans
12/09/2019 07:57
LONDON, Sept 12 (Reuters) - African mobile networks operator
Helios Towers plans to list in London, the company said on
Thursday, after ditching plans for an initial public offering
(IPO) last year which was expected to value the company at two
billion pounds ($2.47 billion).
Helios Towers plans to raise $125 million through the
issuance of new shares, in addition to the sale of existing
shares by shareholders including the International Finance
Corporation and telecom firms Millicom TIGOsdb.ST and Bharti
Airtel BRTI.NS , it said in a statement.
Helios Towers operates phone masts in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Ghana, South Africa and
Tanzania.
It dropped previous plans for a listing in March 2018, amid
concern about political risk in DRC and Tanzania, one banker
told Reuters at the time.
Helios is planning a free float of at least 25% of the
company, with a listing on the London Stock Exchange, and will
use the proceeds for expanding its services, including possibly
into new countries, it said.
Merrill Lynch International, Jefferies and Standard Bank are
joint global co-ordinators and bookrunners and EFG Hermes and
Renaissance Capital will act as joint bookrunners if the IPO
proceeds, Helios said.
($1 = 0.8112 pounds)
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn
Editing by Rachel Armstrong)
((carolyn.cohn@thomsonreuters.com; 44 207 542 6320; Reuters
Messaging: carolyn.cohn.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))