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Business News
EFG Hermes seals Helios Towers’ £288 million IPO on LSE
EFG Hermes has concluded its advisory on the £288 million worth Initial Public Offer (IPO) of Helios Towers.

Published
1 year agoon

EFG Hermes has concluded its advisory on the £288 million worth Initial Public Offer (IPO) of Helios Towers, a telecom tower infrastructure company, on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
The development has earned the company another feat in the equity capital market transaction for the group’s Frontier platform as it is expected to maintain its leadership across Frontier Emerging Markets (FEM).
[READ MORE: Afreximbank discloses plan to list via IPO]
Helios Towers, which owns and operates telecommunications towers and passive infrastructure across Tanzania, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Republic of Congo, and South Africa, operates more than 6,500 towers for the major African mobile network operators (MNOs)
With the IPO, Helios Towers offers 250 million shares, which represent 25% of the issued share capital to institutional investors, at an offer price of £1.15 with a total market capitalisation at £1,150 million.
Chief Executive Officer, EFG Hermes Frontier, Ali Khalpey, said, “With the successful conclusion of Helios Towers’ IPO, EFG Hermes once again demonstrates its ability to bookbuild and transact in frontier emerging markets with an unrivalled global distribution platform supported by world-class research, brokerage, and advisory services.
“Since the launch of the Group’s Frontier platform in 2017, we have expanded our direct presence to cover key FEMs across four continents.”
Meanwhile, the group has execution capabilities across more than 75 FEMs, representing all of the markets under the MSCI FEM index, with a direct presence in 13 jurisdictions serving global institutional investors, regional high-net-worth individuals, and retail investors.
“Our Investment Banking division has for years been the MENA region’s top-ranked ECM advisor by market share, with the Group consistently driving the region’s largest and most successful public offerings. The completion of today’s transaction is yet another example of our ability to leverage our extensive global client network and ability to attract substantial international interest in exciting equity stories,” Khalpey added.
He added that the Helios Towers transaction followed the successful offering of ASA International in 2018, which saw the group venture into frontier emerging markets for the first time.
With other transactions lined up for the coming months, the EFG Hermes Frontier boss added that he would be excited to see the firm’s presence in key frontier markets further expand as it solidifies the position as the go-to investment banking and advisory service provider in the FEM space.
[READ ALSO: Saudi Aramco Ramps up IPO Preparations Despite Weakened Demand Outlook]
About EFG Hermes
With a current footprint spanning 13 countries across four continents, EFG Hermes started in Egypt and has grown over 30 years of success to become a leading financial services corporation with access to emerging and frontier markets.
Drawing on its proven track record and a team of more than 4,400 talented employees, EFG Hermes provides a wide spectrum of financial services that include investment banking, asset management, securities brokerage, research and private equity to the entire MENA region.
Abiola has spent about 14 years in journalism. His career has covered some top local print media like TELL Magazine, Broad Street Journal, The Point Newspaper.The Bloomberg MEI alumni has interviewed some of the most influential figures of the IMF, G-20 Summit, Pre-G20 Central Bank Governors and Finance Ministers, Critical Communication World Conference.The multiple award winner is variously trained in business and markets journalism at Lagos Business School, and Pan-Atlantic University. You may contact him via email - [email protected]


Coronavirus
Combined Vaccine Manufacturing capacity to hit 6.8 billion doses in 2021
COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing capacity is expected to hit 6.8 billion doses in 2021.

Published
2 hours agoon
January 16, 2021
Meristem Group disclosed that the combined effort in manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines for global use is expected to yield about 6.8 billion doses in 2021.
This was revealed in the Annual Outlook 2021 report presented by Meristem Group, titled “Bracing for a different future.”
According to the report, the existing manufacturing capacity will only be sufficient enough to immunize about 44% of the global population, which would create obvious vaccination gap and make the pandemic last longer than necessary.
The report states,
- “The cold temperature requirements for vaccine storage pose major logistics concern particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and other low-income countries. WHO estimates that about 50% of vaccines are wasted every year, largely due to a lack of temperature control.”
According to the report, the estimated 6.8billion doses are expected to be collaboratively manufactured as follows: CanSino – 0.2billion, AstraZeneca – 3.0 billion, Gamaleya – 0.3billion, Moderna – 0.4billion, Pfizer-BioNtech – 1.3billion, SinoPharm – 1billion, and SinoVac – 0.6billion.
What you should know
- The global population as of 2020 is 7.8billion and 70% is required to achieve herd immunity (otherwise called herd protection)
- Herd Immunity or herd protection is achieved when you have most of the population immunized against an infectious disease.
- 2 doses of the vaccines are required for each person for immunity.
- It is expected that between 11 and 15 billion doses would be required to achieve the desired herd immunity, globally.
- From all indications, herd immunity may not be achieved until mid or late 2022, with the subsisting 100% vaccine production capacity utilization in 2021 – with neither production nor distribution losses.
- To achieve regulatory approval, a vaccine must undergo a three-stage clinical development process after the exploratory and pre-clinical stages and the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sets a phase 3 efficacy benchmark of 50%.
Coronavirus
Covid-19: Global deaths surpass 2 million
Global casualty record for the Covid-19 pandemic surpassed 2 million deaths on Friday.

Published
8 hours agoon
January 16, 2021
The Global casualty record for the Covid-19 pandemic surpassed 2 million deaths on Friday, with the United States accounting for 1 in every 5 deaths, as it has recorded over 386,000 casualties so far.
This was disclosed in a report by Reuters in its Covid-19 tally reported on Friday evening.
After the United States, Brazil, Mexico, India and the U.K contribute nearly 50% of the combined casualties.
The report also disclosed that an average of 11,900 casualties are recorded per day in year 2021, despite the fact that it took 9 months for the world to record 1 million casualties.
United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said the 2 million death count was “a heart-wrenching milestone.”
- “Behind this staggering number are names and faces: the smile now only a memory, the seat forever empty at the dinner table, the room that echoes with the silence of a loved one,” he added.
The WHO warned that 2021 could be tougher due to the nature of new variants which transmit the disease faster.
- “We are going into a second year of this. It could even be tougher given the transmission dynamics and some of the issues that we are seeing,” WHO Chief, Mike Ryan, said.
Analysts expect the global death toll to surpass 3 million by April 2021.
What you should know
- Nairametrics reported that the total number of covid-19 cases in Nigeria had surpassed the 100,000 mark on Sunday 10th January 2021, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
- The African Union stated that it secured 270 million Covid-19 vaccine doses for the continent from drug manufacturers to supplement the COVAX programme, a step towards the commencement of the complex task of vaccinating over 1.2 billion people with limited financial resources.
- The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on Friday 15th January 2021, announced that 1,867 new cases of the covid-19 virus were recorded across 24 states in the country. This represents the highest number of cases recorded in a single day.
Debt Securities
Interest rates will remain low until the end of H1 2021 – Meristem Securities
Meristem Securities has argued that interest rates will remain low until, at least, the end of H1 2021.

Published
8 hours agoon
January 16, 2021
Meristem Securities has asserted that interest rates will remain low until, at least, the end of H1 2021.
This statement was made at the recently held webinar on Global Economy and Outlook, which the company themed: Bracing for a Different Future.
Although the company acknowledged that there is mounting pressure for upward movement in yields from several stakeholders, it appears the company concurs nothing concrete is in sight.
This line of reasoning seems to have influenced their decision to advise investors to move away from Treasury instruments.
What they are saying
Meristem advises that:
- “Buy and hold strategy investors seeking to generate above average returns should move away from risk free Treasury instruments and focus on investment grade commercial papers and bonds which satisfy investment objectives.”
- “Active traders with higher risk appetite are advised to focus on high-yield short duration instruments, which would be re-invested into a higher yield environment should rate reversals occur.”
The advice regarding shunning Treasury instruments appears to be in order, considering that treasury bill rate has been declining, with the latest figure — November 2020 — 0.03% as per the CBN monthly interest rate data.
Further checks from the Debt Management Office website, indicates that the latest figures for Eurobonds and Diaspora bond fall short of the fixed yield at issue for all the different categories of bonds in issue.
What you should know
Latest figures from the CBN’s monthly interest rate indicate that:
- Treasury bill rate has been on a steady decline for six months, down to 0.03% since the last rise (2.47%) in May 2020.
- Fixed deposit rates (one, three, six and twelve months) have also been declining – the latest figures for these indicate that in November 2020, one-month deposit rate was 1.92%, 2.9% for three months, 2.84% for six months, and 4.89% for 12 months.
- Compared with the corresponding period in 2019, the figures indicate that these rates fell by 75%, 66%, 71% and 49% respectively.
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