Airtel Africa announced the sale of the tower portfolio belonging to Airtel Tanzania to a joint venture company owned by a subsidiary of SBA Communications as majority owner and Paradigm Infrastructure, a UK company focused on passive wireless infrastructure.
The portfolio in Airtel Tanzania comprises about 1,400 towers. Under the terms of the transaction, Airtel Tanzania will continue to develop, maintain and operate its equipment on the towers under a separate lease arrangement with the purchaser. The transaction is the latest strategic divestment of the group’s tower portfolio as it focuses on an asset-light business model and on its core subscriber-facing operations.
The buyer will pay USD 175 million, of which USD 157.5 million is payable on the first closing date (which is expected to take place in the second half of the group’s current financial year) with the balance payable in instalments upon the completion of the transfer of any remaining towers to the purchaser.
Around USD 60 million from the proceeds will be used to invest in network and sales infrastructure in Tanzania and for distribution to the government of Tanzania, as per the settlement described in the Airtel Africa IPO in June 2019. The balance of the proceeds will be used to reduce debt at group level.
