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MTN Group has reached a crucial milestone in its proposed $6.2 billion buyout of IHS Holding Limited after securing conditional clearance from Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission – FCCPC.

Disclosed alongside the group’s half-year 2026 financial performance, the approval represents significant progress for the landmark telecommunications infrastructure deal across the continent. The overall transaction carries an enterprise value of $6.2 billion, including debt, and involves $2.2 billion in cash.
To address market concentration concerns, the FCCPC’s approval is contingent on MTN reducing its ownership in the Nigerian business unit over time.

Under these regulatory stipulations, MTN must sell down up to 30% of the Nigerian component of IHS at prevailing market prices. MTN Group has confirmed its comfort with the condition, treating the sell-down as a workable mechanism that allows the broader corporate integration to proceed without undermining domestic telecom competition.

The clearance from Nigerian antitrust authorities follows key progress on the investor front, where IHS Holding Limited shareholders voted to authorize the takeover. At an Extraordinary General Meeting held on August 4, 2026, shareholders passed a special resolution approving the transaction by the required two-thirds majority.

Originally announced on February 17, 2026, the deal will see MTN acquire all outstanding shares of IHS. Once fully regulatory-cleared, IHS will be delisted from public exchanges and operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of MTN Group.

This takeover represents a major strategic shift in how African mobile operators manage their network footprints. Over the past decade, MTN aggressively pursued sale-and-leaseback arrangements, including a landmark deal in 2022 covering over 5,700 South African sites, to unlock capital by transferring physical towers to independent operators like IHS. By acquiring IHS, which controls approximately 16,500 of Nigeria’s nearly 40,000 active towers (a leading 41% market share), MTN effectively reverses this asset-light model to bring core passive infrastructure back under its direct balance sheet and operational control.

While regulatory approvals continue to advance, the transaction remains subject to high-level policy oversight due to the strategic nature of digital infrastructure. Nigerian Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, previously noted that the Federal Government would subject the acquisition to a thorough review to evaluate its broader impacts on national security, critical infrastructure, and market competition.

Nonetheless, MTN remains optimistic that the remaining regulatory formalizations will conclude smoothly, positioning the integrated infrastructure platform to enhance long-term revenue growth and free cash flow generation.