SOUTH AFRICA – IHS Holding (IHS Towers), operators and developers of shared telecommunications infrastructure in the world by tower count, has announced the appointment of Sandile Msimango as Vice President and CEO, IHS South Africa.
Based in Johannesburg, Sandile will be leading IHS’ South African operations reporting directly to Executive Vice President, Group Chief Operating Officer, William Saad.
His appointment follows the announcement on November 17, 2021, of IHS’ signed agreements to acquire 5,709 telecommunication towers in South Africa from MTN, one of the leading mobile telecommunications operators in South Africa.
Sandile has over twenty years’ experience in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), investing, corporate strategy implementation and execution.
He is a former MTN Group M&A executive where he specifically served as Head of Infrastructure Investments and was instrumental in their towers’ monetization strategy. He began his investment banking career with Deutsche Securities and later Goldman Sachs International.
Most recently, he was the Founder and Managing Partner of a strategic financial advisory consultancy and investment vehicle, Coombe Advisory, with offices in London and Dubai.
“Sandile’s appointment is an important step in our expansion into South Africa. On completion of our acquisition of MTN’s 5,709 towers, IHS will be the largest independent tower operator in the country,” Sam Darwish, IHS Towers Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said.
“This marks the start of an exciting new chapter, and it is important that we have the most skilled executive leading these operations. Sandile brings that specialist telecommunications experience, and a deep knowledge of the South African market gained on-the-ground.”
In November last year, MTN South Africa has reached an agreement to sell its cellphone towers to IHS Towers for R6.4 billion (US$413.5 million), in a transaction that would help bolster the company’s arsenal for the anticipated auction of spectrum.
MTN was to sell and lease back, 5,709 of its towers in South Africa, which include some 4 000 ‘greenfield’ and 1,700 rooftop sites. MTN has a 29% stake in IHS Towers.
IHS Towers is one of the largest independent owners, operators and developers of shared telecommunications infrastructure in the world by tower count and is the only towerco solely focused on the emerging markets.
The Company has more than 38,000 towers pro forma across its 11 markets, including Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Kuwait, Nigeria, Peru, Rwanda, South Africa and Zambia.
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