Investment banking company EFG Hermes successfully concluded advisory to Helios Towers, a leading telecom tower infrastructure company in Sub-Saharan Africa, on its GBP 288m initial public offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
The offering saw Helios Towers offer 250m shares, representing 25% of the issued share capital, to institutional investors at an offer price of GBP 1.15. Accordingly, the company’s total market capitalisation at admission today stood at GBP 1.15bn.
EFG Hermes acted as joint bookrunner, with Helios Towers beginning to trade under the stock symbol HTWS. This is EFG Hermes’s fifth IPO on the London Stock Exchange after the successful listings of ADES International plc, Integrated Diagnostics Holdings, Finablr, and ASA International.
“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,” he added.
“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.
Khalpey illustrated that 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,” added Khalpey.
