NewsStocksIHS shareholders back MTN’s bid for full ownership

IHS shareholders back MTN’s bid for full ownership

Author: Techcabal·

Key Takeaways

  • IHS shareholders approved MTN’s acquisition of the remaining shares at an Extraordinary General Meeting on August 4, 2026.
  • The special resolution passed with the required two-thirds majority, allowing the merger process to move forward.
  • Under the deal structure, IHS Holding Limited will remain the surviving legal entity and become a wholly owned subsidiary of MTN.
  • Once the transaction is completed, IHS will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.
  • MTN said regulatory approvals are still outstanding, and the transaction cannot close until those conditions are met.
IHS shareholders back MTN’s bid for full ownership

MTN Group has secured shareholder approval to acquire the remaining shares in IHS Holding Limited, clearing a major hurdle in its plan to take full ownership of the telecommunications tower company.

IHS shareholders approved the transaction at an Extraordinary General Meeting held on August 4, 2026, meeting the required two-thirds majority for the special resolution.

The approval allows MTN to proceed with the merger, under which a Sub-Merger Co — a temporary company established by MTN for the transaction — will merge into IHS and cease to exist. IHS Holding Limited will remain the surviving legal entity and become a wholly owned subsidiary of MTN.

Once completed, IHS will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, ending its status as a publicly traded company. The merger structure itself does not alter IHS’s legal identity. The company will retain its existing corporate registration, contracts, licences and permits unless MTN later decides to restructure or rebrand the business. MTN announced its agreement to acquire the remaining IHS shares in February 2026, and the shareholder vote is one of the key conditions required to complete the transaction.

“The approval by IHS shareholders is an important step toward completion of the Transaction,” said Ralph Mupita, MTN Group president and chief executive.

Mupita said telecommunications towers remain central to MTN’s Ambition 2030 strategy, adding that full ownership of IHS would strengthen the group’s strategic and financial position as demand for digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence continues to grow across Africa.

The transaction is not yet complete. MTN said it still needs to secure the necessary regulatory approvals, and those processes are ongoing. Those approvals remain the next formal step before the merger can be completed, making the process still subject to the usual closing conditions for a cross-border infrastructure transaction.

The vote also made a proposed second resolution unnecessary. That resolution would have allowed the shareholder meeting to be adjourned if the required support for the merger had not been secured. Because shareholders approved the transaction at the meeting, the postponement mechanism was not required.

The completion of the deal will give MTN full ownership of IHS, consolidating its position in the tower infrastructure business as the group expands its focus on digital infrastructure under its broader three-platform strategy.

The source article included a primary-source filing here: