Sam Darwish’s IHS to sell Rwandan tower assets for $274 million

Key Points

• IHS is exiting Rwanda in a $274.5 million deal, part of efforts to cut leverage and invest in high-growth markets like Nigeria and Brazil.
• The 1,465-tower sale, priced at an 8.3x EBITDA multiple, highlights strong investor demand for African telecom infrastructure.
• Paradigm Tower Ventures enters sub-Saharan Africa, expanding its footprint as demand for shared digital infrastructure accelerates across emerging markets.

IHS Holding, a global telecom infrastructure leader headed by U.S.-Nigerian telecom tycoon Sam Darwish, has agreed to sell its Rwandan operations to Paradigm Tower Ventures for $274.5 million, marking a strategic reshaping of its African footprint.

The transaction, which includes 1,465 towers, expected to close in the second half of 2025, subject to regulatory approvals, follows IHS’s $230 million divestment of its Kuwait unit and underscores the company’s sharpened focus on core high-growth markets in ongoing efforts to streamline its global portfolio and strengthen its financial position amid market headwinds. 

Sharpening focus on key regions

With operations in Nigeria, Brazil, South Africa and five other emerging markets, IHS Towers is tightening its strategic lens with stronger long-term returns. The Rwanda exit reflects this shift, with the transaction priced at an 8.3x adjusted EBITDA multiple, a signal of investor confidence in the Rwandan telecom sector’s fundamentals. “This exit underscores the strength of our decade in Rwanda,” said CEO Sam Darwish. “It’s a deliberate move to redeploy capital into core markets and maximize shareholder returns.”

The sale aligns with IHS’s financial rebound. In Q1 2025, revenue rose 5.24 percent year-on-year to $439.6 million, driven by 25.6 percent organic growth from FX resets, lease adjustments, site rollouts, and power indexation. IHS Rwanda delivered $37.6 million in adjusted EBITDA over the past year, highlighting the asset’s solid performance.

That strength helped cushion currency pressures, including a 13.8 percent naira slide, and the impact of the Kuwait exit. For Paradigm Tower Ventures, a rising infrastructure firm launched in 2019 by telecom veterans Stephen Harris, Hal Hess, and Steven Marshall, Paradigm is backed by a mix of equity and debt investors, this marks its first major foray into sub-Saharan Africa, positioning it to tap surging demand for shared digital infrastructure across the region.

Darwish unlocks value through strategic portfolio moves

Founded by U.S.-Nigerian telecom tycoon Sam Darwish in 2001, IHS Towers has grown into the world’s third-largest independent telecom tower company. As of the end of Q1 2025, following the announced sale of its 1,465-tower Rwanda unit, the company operated 39,212 towers with 59,606 tenants, achieving a 1.52x colocation rate amid a broader shift in capital allocation.

Darwish, who holds a 4.17 percent stake, continues to steer the company as a key enabler of Africa’s digital infrastructure expansion, with plans to deploy 500 new build-to-suit sites, 400 of them in Brazil, supported by $260 million to $290 million in capital expenditure.

Buoyed by a strong first quarter, IHS forecasts full-year revenue between $1.68 billion and $1.71 billion, targeting 12 percent organic growth. The $274.5 million Rwanda divestiture exemplifies IHS’s strategy to unlock value, lower leverage, and redeploy capital into higher-growth initiatives, including 5G rollouts and operational stability efforts in Nigeria.