EFG Hermes seals Helios Towers' £288 million IPO on LSE

The deal represents yet another successful equity capital market transaction for the Group’s Frontier platform, further solidifying its leadership across Frontier Emerging Markets (FEM)

EFG Hermes, the leading financial services corporation in Frontier Emerging Markets, successfully concluded advisory to Helios Towers, a leading telecom tower infrastructure company in Sub-Saharan Africa, on its (Great Britain Pound) GBP 288 million initial public offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

Founded in 2009, Helios Towers owns and operates telecommunications towers and passive infrastructure across Tanzania, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Republic of Congo, and South Africa. The company operates more than 6,500 towers for the major African mobile network operators (MNOs)

EFG Hermes acted as joint bookrunner, with Helios Towers beginning to trade under the stock symbol HTWS. This is EFG Hermes’ fifth IPO on the London Stock Exchange after the successful listings of ADES International plc, Integrated Diagnostics Holdings, Finablr and ASA International.

The offering saw Helios Towers offer 250 million shares(1) (representing 25% of the issued share capital) to institutional investors at an offer price of GBP 1.15; accordingly, the company’s total market capitalization at admission today stood at GBP 1,150  million.

“With the successful conclusion of Helios Towers’ IPO, EFG Hermes once again demonstrates its ability to bookbuild and transact in frontier emerging markets with an unrivalled global distribution platform supported by world-class research, brokerage, and advisory services,” said Ali Khalpey, CEO of EFG Hermes Frontier. “Since the launch of the Group’s Frontier platform in 2017, we have expanded our direct presence to cover key FEMs across four continents.”

Today, the Group has execution capabilities across more than 75 FEMs, representing all of the markets under the MSCI FEM index, with a direct presence in 13 jurisdictions serving global institutional investors, regional high-net-worth individuals, and retail investors. Earlier this year, EFG Hermes was ranked the number one frontier market brokerage firm in the Extel Survey 2019 for the second year running, as well as the Best Investment Bank in the Middle East, Best Equity Bank in Africa, and Best Investment Bank in Egypt by Global Finance — a testament to its success in just two years since the platform’s launch.

“Our Investment Banking division has for years been the MENA region’s top-ranked ECM advisor by market share, with the Group consistently driving the region’s largest and most successful public offerings. The completion of today’s transaction is yet another example of our ability to leverage our extensive global client network and ability to attract substantial international interest in exciting equity stories,” added Khalpey.

“The Helios Towers transaction follows the successful offering of ASA International in 2018, which saw the Group venture into frontier emerging markets for the first time. With several other transactions lined up for the coming months, I am excited to see our presence in key frontier markets further expand as we solidify our position as the go-to investment banking and advisory service provider in the FEM space,” said Khalpey.

Helios Towers’ IPO marks EFG Hermes’ eighth ECM transaction of 2019, following the successful conclusion of landmark transactions of key FEM companies on multiple regional and global exchanges.

October 16, 2019