American tower firm set to buy Eaton for $1.85 billion
The American Tower Corp has revealed plans to acquire African mobile masts specialist, Eaton Towers. The transaction would be done in a deal valued at $1.85 billion.
Founded in 2009, Eaton owns and operates about 5,500 communications sites across five African markets. These are Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Burkina Faso, and Niger.
It gives space and power at its sites to mobile operators and data services companies, usually under 10-year agreements. Its customers comprise of MTN, Vodafone, Bharti, Airtel, and Orange.
Eaton is said to be the only tower company in Burkina Faso, and Niger. Even more, they are the market leader by number of towers in Kenya.
Eaton’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Terry Rhodes, noted that to become a leader in African shared telecoms infrastructure with approximate annual revenue and EBITDA of $250 million and $150 million respectively, and bottom-line profitability, is a unique achievement.
Hence, the company will work closely with ATC to ensure customers throughout our markets continue to receive outstanding levels of service.
However, according to connecting Africa insights, American Tower said it expects the Eaton assets to generate about $260 million in property revenues in the first year of ownership and boost the company’s earnings once the deal is closed.
American Tower added that it expects to accelerate new build activity across the region due to expanded relationships with multiple key tenants.
American Tower’s CEO, Jim Taiclet, stated that
“This transaction will significantly augment our existing footprint in Africa and positions ATC to take even better advantage of the growth opportunity in the region as 4G mobile data technology is deployed to serve millions of Africans over the coming years.”
