Two of Africa’s major financial players—Nedbank Group and IHS Towers—are making strategic pivots that signal a new era for cross-border banking and infrastructure investment across the continent. As of August 15, 2025, both companies have announced significant changes to their portfolios and capital allocation strategies, underscoring a broader shift toward operational control, capital efficiency, and resilience in the face of economic headwinds.
Nedbank’s Exit from Ecobank: A Strategic Recalibration
After a 17-year partnership, Nedbank Group has decided to divest its 21.2% stake in Ecobank Transnational Inc. (ETI), a move that’s sending ripples through Africa’s banking sector. According to AInvest, this decision is rooted in a hard-nosed reassessment of the risks and rewards associated with pan-African banking alliances. While Nedbank’s association with Ecobank generated a respectable 6.8 billion rand in associate income since 2008, only 400 million rand ever made it back as dividends. The rest? Tied up in unrealized gains and losses, battered by currency swings and regulatory uncertainty—especially in Ecobank’s largest market, Nigeria.
The rationale for the exit is clear: Nedbank found itself increasingly hamstrung by economic deterioration in Nigeria, mounting capital requirements for cross-border operations, and a lack of direct operational control across Ecobank’s sprawling 33-country network. As AInvest notes, Nedbank’s leadership recognized that maintaining such a partnership was not yielding the strategic or financial returns once envisioned. Instead, the bank has reclassified its Ecobank stake from a "strategic investment" to a "financial investment," a subtle but telling shift that reflects a new set of priorities.
Broader Trends: Control Over Scale
Nedbank’s move is far from an isolated case. Other African banking giants—think Standard Bank and Absa—have also pared back their pan-African ambitions in recent years, favoring more focused, locally controlled operations. This trend is being driven by a host of factors, including currency volatility (the West African CFA franc and Nigeria’s naira have both seen wild swings), regulatory complexity, and the rapid rise of fintech disruptors that are outpacing traditional banks in key local markets.
The message to investors is unmistakable: in today’s Africa, control trumps scale. As Nedbank pivots to direct ownership in Southern and East African markets like South Africa, Mozambique, and Kenya, it is betting that operational agility and deep local knowledge will deliver better results than diffuse, partnership-driven strategies. Nedbank’s first-half 2025 results—a 6% growth in headline earnings and a robust 15% return on equity—suggest that the bank’s new focus is already bearing fruit.
For investors, this means prioritizing banks with strong regional dominance, high return on equity, and the ability to adapt quickly to shifting regulatory and economic landscapes. As AInvest advises, “the takeaway is to favor banks that prioritize control, adaptability, and localized innovation over broad but diffuse partnerships.”
IHS Towers: From Expansion to Efficiency
Meanwhile, IHS Towers—a leading operator of telecom infrastructure across Africa and beyond—is undergoing its own strategic transformation. The company slashed its capital expenditure by 15.8% in the first half of 2025, bringing spending down to $89.9 million. According to Pulse54, this marks a decisive shift from rapid expansion to a more cash-flow-focused, capital-disciplined approach. The company’s investment in Latin America has been scaled back, and activity in Nigeria—its largest market—has slowed following the sale of 1,672 towers in Kuwait last year and a planned sale of 1,465 towers in Rwanda.
The proceeds from these asset sales are being used to pay down debt, reducing IHS’s net leverage from 3.7x to 3.4x in the first quarter of 2025. That’s no small feat in a sector where capital intensity and debt loads can quickly spiral out of control. The company has also cut its full-year 2025 capex guidance to between $240 million and $270 million, a move that reflects a new emphasis on efficiency and margin improvement over sheer network growth.
Navigating Nigeria’s Churn
Of course, no story about African infrastructure investment would be complete without a mention of Nigeria. For IHS, the country remains both a source of opportunity and a risk factor. Tenant churn has been a challenge, especially after MTN awarded 1,050 sites to rival American Tower. But IHS has managed to offset these losses through retained business and steady colocation rates, maintaining a healthy colocation ratio of 1.52x in Nigeria—right in line with emerging market averages. First-half 2025 revenue reached $872.9 million, with net income swinging back into the black: $30.7 million in Q1 and $32.3 million in Q2, reversing last year’s losses.
According to Pulse54, IHS’s strategy now centers on consolidating its portfolio in high-tenancy regions like Nigeria, South Africa, and Brazil. By streamlining its operations and focusing on debt reduction, the company aims to strengthen its margins and build resilience in the face of currency volatility, rising energy costs, and fierce competition from global tower operators like American Tower Corporation and Helios Towers.
Lessons for Investors and the Road Ahead
The stories of Nedbank and IHS Towers offer a window into the evolving landscape of African finance and infrastructure. Both companies are moving away from the old paradigm of aggressive, continent-wide expansion and toward a model that values operational control, capital discipline, and local expertise. For Nedbank, the divestment from Ecobank is less a retreat than a recalibration—a chance to redeploy capital in markets where the bank has a genuine competitive edge. For IHS, the focus is on squeezing more value from its existing assets and weathering the inevitable storms of tenant churn and market volatility.
The next few months will be crucial. For Nedbank, much depends on the terms of the Ecobank sale and how the freed-up capital is reinvested. As AInvest points out, a “clean deal” could unlock new opportunities in Southern Africa, where Nedbank’s operational expertise is a major asset. For Ecobank, the departure of a long-term shareholder may prompt a rethink of its own governance and growth strategy—potentially stabilizing the institution or, if new investors are less risk-averse, introducing fresh volatility.
IHS Towers, for its part, faces the challenge of replacing lost tenancies in Nigeria while keeping capital intensity low. The company’s ability to maintain growth and strengthen margins in the second half of 2025 could well define its competitive positioning for years to come.
Ultimately, the African banking and infrastructure sectors are entering a period of strategic realignment. Investors and operators alike are being forced to grapple with the realities of currency risk, regulatory complexity, and rapid technological change. Those who adapt—by prioritizing control, efficiency, and deep local engagement—will be best positioned to thrive as the continent’s financial landscape continues to evolve.
In a region where unpredictability is the norm, Nedbank and IHS Towers are showing that sometimes, the smartest move is not to double down, but to double back and rethink the game plan entirely.
