Helios Towers acquires infrastructure in Madagascar and Malawi

The London-listed telecoms infrastructure company Helios Towers has signed agreements with Airtel Africa to acquire its passive infrastructure operating companies in Madagascar and Malawi for $108m. Helios has also signed an exclusive memorandum of understanding for the potential acquisition of Airtel’s passive infrastructure assets in Chad and Gabon, a transaction expected to complete in Q1 2022 subject to the granting of licences. The deals cover 2,227 existing sites across the four markets, and Helios expects the assets to generate aggregated annualised revenues of $89m.

African Development Bank finances Angola transmission line

The African Development Bank has committed $530m to finance the construction of a transmission line that will connect the north and south transmission grids in Angola and allow for the distribution of clean energy between the two regions. Transmission capacity will increase by 2,250 MW and eliminate the need for diesel-powered generators in southern provinces. Once operational in 2023, the line is projected to save the government more than $130m per year in diesel subsidies.

Boomplay extends licensing agreement with UMG

Nigerian music service Boomplay has extended its licensing agreement for Universal Music Group’s global music catalogue to cover 47 countries in Africa. The deal with UMG represents a renewal and expansion of an existing licensing arrangement first signed in 2018 which covers seven African markets. The news comes shortly after major competitor Spotify, the world’s most widely used audio streaming service, announced that it is set to launch in 40 African countries this year.

Flutterwave becomes Africa’s fourth unicorn company

Payments company Flutterwave has become the fourth African startup to reach “unicorn” status. The Nigeria-founded startup reached a valuation of over $1bn after raising $170m in a Series C round. The round, led by growth equity firms Avenir and Tiger Global, brings the total investment in Flutterwave to $225m. Flutterwave joins only three African startups to have reached the elusive

$1bn valuation – Egyptian payments company Fawry, Nigerian payments company Interswitch and Dubai-based e-commerce giant Jumia.

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TPG fund to invest $191m in Airtel

Airtel Africa is set to sell an undisclosed minority stake in its pan-African mobile money business to private equity firm TPG for $191m, underlining the huge value of mobile financial service platforms in Africa.

Brikor acquires 40% stake in transportation company Zingaro

South African Brick manufacturer and supplier Brikor has acquired a 40% stake in multi-product road transportation services provider Zingaro Holdings for $3.4m.

E-hailer Bolt gets $23.8m capital injection from IFC

Bolt has received a $23.8m capital injection from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to expand mobility solutions that create earning opportunities, improve access to transportation, and stimulate entrepreneurship in African and Eastern European markets.

ARISE acquires 35% of Aera Group

ARISE, the pan-African infrastructure developer and operator, has bought a 35% stake in Aera, a trader of environmental certificates in Africa, based on a valuation of €28.5m ($33.6m).

Equity Group gets $75m from AGF to support MSMEs

Equity Group has received $75m from African Guarantee Fund Group to support the bank in scaling up its lending activities to MSMEs in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

SunFunder lends $2m to Winch Energy

SunFunder has disbursed a $2m loan to Winch Energy for the construction of 25 minigrids in Northern Uganda.

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