MTN Nigeria Communications PLC has selected American Tower Corp. (ATC) to take over its Nigerian tower operations from IHS Holding Ltd beginning from the year 2025.
The company said it was pro-actively re-negotiating its tower contracts in Nigeria as the lease of approximately 2,500 of its network sites in its largest market, for which IHS had provided services, will expire in 2024 and 2025.
Analysts say it could amount to over N390bn in lost revenues for IHS once the shift takes effect.
Since the deal was reached, the two companies have been engulfed in shareholder disputes over governance issues.
MTN holds a 26 percent stake in the tower company. Together with Wendel SE and MTN Group Ltd, they own about 45 percent of the company.
Both shareholders had argued that all shareholders with at least a 10 percent stake should have the power to nominate board members.
“The proposals requested to be put forward were not in the best interest of the company as a whole or our collective shareholder base,” IHS reportedly said. IHS is the largest telecommunications infrastructure provider in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East by tower count
