Nigeria Regulators Clear MTN-IHS $6.2 Billion Deal With Mandatory 30% Local Selldown
Nigeria's FCCPC and NCC have conditionally approved MTN's $6.2 billion acquisition of IHS Nigeria, making it Africa's largest telecom infrastructure transaction. Both regulators require MTN to sell 30 percent of the IHS Nigeria stake to Nigerian investors, a landmark indigenisation ruling that sets a precedent for tower-asset ownership rules across the continent.
MTN-IHS: Nigeria just decided who gets to own the backbone
A 30% selldown condition sounds like a footnote. It isn't.
Nigeria's regulators are saying that owning the towers — the physical infrastructure every phone call and data packet in the country depends on — cannot be entirely foreign-held, even when the buyer is a company already deeply embedded in the Nigerian market.
That's a meaningful line to draw on a $6.2 billion deal. And because this is Africa's largest telecom infrastructure transaction, every other government watching will now ask whether they should draw the same one.
3 sources
- MTN gets Nigerian approval for IHS deal with 30% sell-down condition · techcabal.com · T1
- FCCPC, NCC okays MTN-IHS deal, 30% stake to be sold to Nigerian investors · innovation-village.com · T2
- FCCPC clears MTN’s $6.2 billion IHS takeover, but with a condition · nairametrics.com · T2