The largest African IPO, on the New York Stock Exchange, has lived. Introduced on October 14 through the sale of 18 million shares, in addition to an extra 4.5 million shares offered by shareholders, at a unit price of $ 21, IHS Holding was valued at approximately $ 7 billion. The IPO raised $ 378 million.
From day one of listing, the share price has fallen 18% to $ 17.2, which analysts say does not detract from the upside potential of the stock. The company that owns shared telecoms infrastructure manages a portfolio of 30,000 towers across Africa, the Middle East and more recently in Latin America. The shareholders include in particular the South African operator MTN up to 29%, but also Goldman Sachs, Emerging Capital Partners (ECP), African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), the FMO, Ninety One and the French Wendel for 21, 4% of the capital. Another shareholder, very shy at this level, is not mentioned. This is the Gabonese strategic investment fund (FGIS) created in 2011 to optimize the management of oil revenues and local savings in promising investments.
FGIS has invested in IHS since 2014 but has never disclosed the funds committed or the expected return on investment. However, a source specifies that FGIS is not among the shareholders who sold 4.5 million shares as part of this IPO. This timid breakthrough into international financial centers paves the way for other FGIS investments in African stock exchanges (BVMAC and BRVM) where it can play a leading role alongside other African sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies and financial institutions. provident societies.
