South African operator Telkom is in talks with private equity firm Actis over the sale of its tower business Swiftnet. As reported by Bloomberg, a deal would also include a smaller local investment partner, according to the people familiar with the matter.
It was first reported in November that Telkom had entered exclusive negotiations over the sale of its masts and towers business, Swiftnet. At the time, the name of the proposed bidder wasn’t mentioned.The telco, which spun off its telecom towers and mast into a separate division in 2021, is looking to sell the assets to unlock more value in the business. The telco had previously planned to publicly list the tower unit.
Telkom has previously said it values Swiftnet at around $332 million. Swiftnet operates 6,200 towers across South Africa.A number of telecom operators across the world have sought to sell their tower assets, notably including Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom.
Telkom’s domestic rival MTN Group sold 5,701 cellular and radiocommunication towers to IHS Towers in 2022, as part of a sale and lease-back deal.Aside from looking to shift its tower unit, Telkom, South Africa’s third-biggest telecom company, has also considered a merger in the past 18 months. Domestic telcos MTN Group and Rain were both previously interested.
The telco also rejected a potential takeover from a consortium led by former CEO Sipho Maseko.
Source: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/telkom-in-talks-with-actis-to-sell-its-tower-business-in-south-africa/