HTA Debt (IFC-44602)

Regions
  • Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Active
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Dec 18, 2020
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
HELIOS TOWERS PLC
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Communications
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 200.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS May 10, 2022

Disclosed by Bank Nov 6, 2020

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

Helios Towers Plc. (“HT” or the “Company”) is an independent tower company with operations across five countries in Africa, namely Tanzania, DRC, Ghana, Congo Brazzaville and South Africa. HT provides passive telecommunications infrastructure and rents out tower space to large mobile phone companies, but also internet service and data providers. HT has around 7,000 sites across these countries and aims to expand its portfolio to 12,000 across at least 8 markets by 2025. HT is currently evaluating several markets for potential expansion in Africa. The proposed Project entails the provision of a debt package of up to US$[200] million from IFC’s own account and up to US$[225] million in mobilization or parallel loans to support HT’s expansion in Africa. The underlying loans will be made to country specific operating companies (OpCos). The first country identified for financing is Senegal, where HT announced that it agreed to acquire over 1,200 sites from Free Senegal and committed to rollout 400 build-to-suit sites in the next 5 years. On top of the committed rollout, HT plans to invest) for further organic growth of additional 180 towers and the upgrade of the existing portfolio between 2021 and 2025. HT plans to close the acquisition in the first quarter of 2021 following the required regulatory approvals.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Helios Towers PLC

Point of Contact: Tom Greenwood, Chief Operating Officer

Telephone number: +44 (0) 207 871 3670

10th Floor 5 Merchant Square, West London, W2 1AS United Kingdom

https://www.heliostowers.com/  

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/inquiries

If you believe that your request for information from IFC has been unreasonably denied, or that this Policy has been interpreted incorrectly, you can submit a complaint at the link above to IFC's Access to Information Policy Advisor, who reports directly to IFC's Executive Vice President.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org

How it works

How it works