Helios Investment Partners is in discussions with African telecom providers and banks about how the private equity firm might assist them in monetizing their mobile money and digital payment networks.
MTN Group and Airtel Africa, two of Africa’s major telecom providers, are among those examining ways to unlock value from their multibillion-dollar fintech activities. MTN, based in Johannesburg, is aiming to complete preparations to spin off the lucrative operation by the end of March, while Airtel last year pulled in Mastercard as a minority investor in its mobile-finance subsidiary.
“There is a desire to carve out these businesses, and we have been in continuous dialogue with such players,” Helios Co-Founder and Managing Partner Tope Lawani said in an interview, without naming specific firms. “Companies are trying to find ways of letting these units flourish and not essentially be suffocated by the traditional parts of the business.”
Helios intends to capitalize on Africa’s booming digital payments sector, where a young and tech-savvy populace has more access to smartphones and low-cost, high-speed internet. For a continent with 1.4 billion people, traditional banking infrastructure is scarce; according to Stastica, only approximately a third of the population has a bank account. Those who do not have access to a computer can use their phones to pay for goods and services.
As a result, Lawani believes that investment firms have a huge opportunity. Helios has extensive experience in the African telecom business, having founded and developed Helios Towers, a mobile tower company that grew through acquisitions across the continent and was listed in London in 2019.
The investment firm is now in the process of raising a $1.25-billion fund for future deals.
ENERGY FOCUS
Helios is interested in the continent’s role in the global energy transition away from fossil fuels and toward greener alternatives. According to Lawani, the company is raising $350-million for this purpose.
“We want to help Africa to navigate this quite dangerous energy transition period that we are in,” the CEO said. “I say dangerous as pro-climate policies are not designed with continents like Africa in mind, but rather with the big polluters like the U.S., Europe and China. We are quite keen not to see Africa miss out on another development cycle, and we want to get these investments done.”
Helios is searching for partnerships in South Africa, where there is a debate about the country’s historic reliance on coal and proposal for alternative energy sources.
“The cleaner fuels investment opportunity is particularly interesting in South Africa, and maybe some of the work that we intend to do with the new fund will enable us to deepen and increase our footprint in the country,” Lawani said.
