Infrastructure investor Actis has teamed up with Royal Bafokeng Holdings to acquire a ZAR6.75bn (€328.7m) telecommunications tower portfolio in South Africa from Telkom.
The acquisition of Swiftnet – which owns over 4,000 telecom sites across South Africa leased by Telkom and other tenants – builds on Actis’s existing digital infrastructure portfolio in the country, having invested in fibre network operator Octotel in 2020.
Earlier this year, Actis also led a consortium to acquire a portfolio of tower assets from CEE region telecommunications operator Telekom Srbija in a deal that involved the acquisition of 1,800 macro towers located across Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.
So far, Actis has made nine investments in digital infrastructure, bringing its total committed capital in the sector to over $1.5bn (€1.39bn), the global sustainable infrastructure investor said.
David Cooke, partner at Actis, said: “The acquisition of Swiftnet is Actis’ latest exciting investment in the digital infrastructure sector in South Africa. Our strategy is to position Swiftnet as the leading independent towerco in this market. Providing the infrastructure to deliver universal telecommunications access across the country, including the roll-out of 5G connectivity, presents great growth prospects.
”Our deep understanding of the region and our global network of towers expertise provide the basis to create a strong performing platform with scale-up opportunities.”
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