Private equity firm Actis is in talks to buy Swiftnet, the mast and tower business owned by Telkom, according to people familiar with the matter.
The deal would also include a smaller, local partner, according to the people who declined to be identified because they’re not authorised to speak on the matter.Actis and Telkom declined to comment on the matter.
Actis has been growing its digital infrastructure portfolio in South Africa, buying fiber company Octotel in 2020. Meanwhile, mobile companies have increasingly sought to spin off their towers to focus on their core business, with Vodafone Group Plc’s African unit Vodacom saying in 2022 it plans to separate its towers portfolio into a new unit.
In 2022, MTN concluded a sale and lease-back deal with IHS Holding Ltd. for more than 5 700 of its tower sites in South Africa. IHS Towers had also expressed interest in Telkom’s Swiftnet deal, Bloomberg reported previously. Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day.