IHS Towers
IHS Towers (IHS Holding Limited) is one of the largest independent owners and operators of shared communications infrastructure worldwide, with over 28,000 towers across five African markets: Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia. Founded by Sam Darwish in Lagos in 2001, it provides colocation, build-to-suit, managed services and fiber connectivity to mobile network operators. IHS listed on the NYSE under ticker IHS in October 2021. It exited Latin America in 2026, selling its Brazil fiber unit to TIM and its Brazil and Colombia towers to Macquarie, and shareholders have approved a $6.2 billion take-private by MTN Group.
Public Company
IHS Towers is publicly traded
IPO'd on Oct 14, 2021
This company is no longer available on our private secondary market. Shares can be traded publicly under IHS.
Overview
Company data and valuation marks are estimates and may be incomplete, stale, erroneous, or revised.
Founded
2001
Employees
1,001–5,000
Total Funding
$1.2B
7 rounds
Last Private Valuation
$8B
Secondary Signals (Note: SetterVC does not verify the accuracy of these)
2 signalsSouth Africa's Competition Commission recommended conditional approval of MTN's $6.2B IHS Towers buyout and referred it to the Competition Tribunal for a final ruling.
Tribunal ruling still outstanding; MTN targets completion by end-2026, after which IHS delists from the NYSE.
Shareholders approved MTN's take-private of remaining IHS Towers shares at Aug 4 EGM; regulatory approvals still pending
Deal derisked but not closed; still needs regulatory clearance before cash-out completes
Funding
Funding data and valuation marks are estimates and may be incomplete, stale, erroneous, or revised.
Total raised $1.2B across 7 rounds
Last updated 10-10-2026
| Date | Round | Amount Raised | Valuation | Lead Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 14, 2021 | IPO Press release | $378M | — | Not disclosed |
| Pre-IPO MTN preferred share conversion | Not disclosed | $8B | MTN Group | |
| Nov 2014 | Pre-IPO growth equity | $2.0B | — | Not disclosed |
Prominent Investors
Leadership
Sam Darwish
Chairman & Group Chief Executive Officer
Mohamad Darwish
Executive Vice President, IHS Towers & CEO, IHS Nigeria
Steve Howden
Chief Financial Officer
William Saad
Chief Operating Officer
Competitors
Competitor list is illustrative and may be incomplete, stale, or erroneous.
American Tower
NYSE-listed (AMT) global tower REIT with ~223,000 towers worldwide, including significant African (Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, etc.) and Latin American operations that directly overlap IHS's footprint.
Helios Towers
London-listed (LSE: HTWS) pan-African independent tower company operating across multiple African markets; IHS's closest direct peer by geography and business model.
SBA Communications
Nasdaq-listed (SBAC) U.S. tower REIT operating ~39,500 communication sites globally, including Latin American operations that compete with IHS in Brazil and Colombia.
Pan African Towers
Private Nigeria-based independent tower company building and managing shared telecom infrastructure across West and Central Africa; smaller-scale regional competitor to IHS.
Cellnex Telecom
Madrid-listed (BME: CLNX) European wireless infrastructure operator with ~100,000+ tower sites; competes with IHS for institutional tower-infrastructure capital and select international markets.
Indus Towers
NSE-listed Indian tower company (~220,000 towers) - a comparable emerging-markets independent tower platform used as a benchmark for IHS's scale and economics.
IHS Towers Investment FAQ
IHS Towers FAQ
Yes, IHS Towers is publicly traded under the ticker symbol IHS on the NYSE. The company went public in Oct 14, 2021.
IHS Towers trades under the ticker symbol IHS on the NYSE. It began trading in Oct 14, 2021.
IHS Towers (IHS on the NYSE) shares can be purchased through any standard brokerage account — including Fidelity, Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, and online platforms like Robinhood or E*TRADE. Search for the ticker IHS to place an order.
IHS Towers went public in Oct 14, 2021 via ipo, with an offering valuation of approximately $8B. IHS Holding Limited listed on the NYSE under the ticker 'IHS' on October 14, 2021, pricing 18,000,000 ordinary shares at $21.00 per share, the bottom of the $21-$24 range, and valuing the company at approximately $7 billion; it was the largest U.S. IPO by a company with African heritage at the time, and the stock has traded well below its offer price for most of its public life. On February 17, 2026, IHS agreed a take-private by MTN Group at $8.50 per share in cash, an enterprise value of about $6.2 billion. Shareholders approved the merger at an extraordinary general meeting on August 4, 2026, and the Latin American disposals that were a condition of the deal have completed: the 51% stake in Brazilian fiber operator I-Systems went to TIM S.A. in May 2026 and the Brazil and Colombia tower operations to Macquarie Asset Management in August 2026. Completion now turns on the remaining regulatory clearances. In Nigeria, the NCC has granted conditional approval and the competition regulator FCCPC cleared the deal on condition that MTN sell up to 30% of IHS's Nigerian business to local investors over time; approvals covering Zambia have been granted by COMESA and the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority. In South Africa, the Competition Commission recommended approval with conditions at the end of September 2026 - covering employment, ownership by historically disadvantaged persons, non-discriminatory tower access for other operators and IHS's operational independence - and referred the deal to the Competition Tribunal, which has the final say and had not ruled as of early October. MTN expects to complete by the end of 2026, after which IHS would be delisted from the NYSE. IHS remained listed and held its annual general meeting on October 8, 2026.
IHS Towers raised $1.2B across 7 disclosed funding rounds prior to its public listing.
IHS Towers is headquartered in London, United Kingdom.
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