Helios Investment Partners, a UK-based private investment group led by Nigerian multimillionaire businessman Temitope Lawani, has entered definitive agreements to purchase controlling holdings in two data centers in Kenya and Morocco on behalf of funds it advises.
Following the completion of the transaction, which is still subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, the funds advised by the Lawani-led private equity firm will become the majority owner of Maroc Data Center, a Moroccan carrier-neutral data center, and IXAfrica Data Center Limited, a Nairobi-based leading developer and operator of hyperscale-ready data centers.
The move emphasizes Helios’ large-scale investments in North and East African data centers, as the facilities held by Maroc Data Center and IXAfrica will serve as a crucial building component in a bigger Helios’ hyperscale data center platform in the region.
Helios revealed that the next phase of the continent’s telecommunications transformation offers new and significant opportunities in digital infrastructure and that it is well positioned to play pivotal roles in the digital transformations of Morocco and Kenya, respectively, with Maroc Data Center and IXAfrica.
Despite Africa’s data consumption growth being among the fastest in the world, the continent’s data center capacity, a key enabler of digital transformation, remains severely underdeveloped, with additional capacity required to meet latent and future demand, according to the private equity firm.
“Digital infrastructure lies at the center of the dual long-term secular trends of demographics and technology that we believe will power economic growth in Africa over the coming decades,” Tope Lawani, co-founder and managing partner of Helios, said.
He added that by investing in MDC and IXAfrica, Helios is reaffirming its high level of confidence in digital infrastructure investment prospects and strengthening its market-leading sector franchise.
Helios Investment, founded in 2004 by Lawani and Babatunde Soyoye, is one of the largest Africa-focused private investment firms, with a track record ranging from developing start-ups to providing expanding firms with expansion capital and experience.
The firm is led and managed by a primarily African staff based in London, Paris, Lagos, and Nairobi, with the language skills and cultural affinity to engage with local entrepreneurs, managers, and intermediaries on the continent.
