Lagos-based African telecom tower group, IHS has raised $490 million capital to boost is expansion plans across the continent.

The capital was split into a $420 million equity sold to three leading investment institutions including Goldman Sachs, the IFC Global infrastructure fund and African Infrastructure Investment Managers.

A $70 million debt was however sourced from Standard Chartered bank, and will go into funding the expansion of its Zambian business, a report by Business Day revealed.

The tower manager expects to use funds raised to “to finance acquisitions, help its customers expand coverage and capacity by building new towers and continue investing in alternative energy,” it said in an official statement.

IHS manages over 10,000 towers across the continent including Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast as well as over 3,500 self built towers. It recently announced plans to acquire 1,200 towers in Rwanda and Uganda from leading telecom gaint MTN, after the South African company said it wanted to focus resources on core operations.

Telecom firms are increasingly relinquishing control of towers over the higher cost of managing them within the continent. Challenges such as lack of stable power and poor security over overburden operators by raising cost, forcing a sale exodus to specialized tower managers.