29627 - Helios Towers Africa, Ltd.

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Environmental & Social Review Summary

Project Number

29627

Company Name

HELIOS TOWERS AFRICA LLP

Date ESRS Disclosed

May 6, 2010

Country

Africa Region

Region

Africa

Last Updated Date

May 10, 2025

Environmental Category

B - Limited

Status

Active

Previous Events

Approved : Jun 23, 2010
Signed : Jun 30, 2010
Invested : Mar 7, 2011

Sector

Other (Including Satellite Telecommunications, Radio and Television Broadcasting, etc.)

Industry

Telecommunications and Technology

Department

TMT, Venture Capital & Funds

Project Description

The Project consists of the operations of Helios Towers Africa, a holding company that plans to finance local shared tower companies in Africa, excluding Nigeria.

Overview of IFC's Scope of Review

The review of this project consisted of an interview by IFC of Helios Towers Africa (“HTA” or the “Company”) management, to obtain an understanding of their proposed operational activities. IFC staff also reviewed the environmental and social due diligence information for its recent investment in Helios Towers in Nigeria, and the environmental and social performance of a project that IFC has previously invested in through Helios Investors II L.P. Fund, which is also the sponsor of HTA.

E & S Project Categorization and Applicable Standard

This is an equity investment in a holding company to support its establishment and operations through subsidiaries that will be established in each country in the future. While specific facilities have not yet been defined, the expectation is that the principal Performance Standard (PS) to be applied to this investment is PS1: Social and Environmental Assessment and Management Systems. PS2 through PS8 are not expected to be applicable in the small operations of HTA itself. They are expected to be applicable in the operations in which HTA will invest, and as such will be managed by HTA according to the principles of PS1. Nevertheless, a condition of IFC’s investment will be that HTA’s operations shall consider all relevant social and environmental risks and impacts, including issues covered in all IFC PSs.

This project involves the acquisition, leasing, building, and operating of telecommunications towers. The key issues associated with the project are environmental, health, safety, and social management; construction of towers; labor and working conditions (including employee and contractor occupational health and safety); and pollution prevention and abatement. The nature of the Company’s operations is such that no major adverse environmental or social impacts are expected to result from the project, and that it will be possible to avoid or mitigate any limited adverse impacts that might result. As a result, it has been classified as a Category B project according to IFC’s Procedure for Environmental and Social Review of Projects.

Environmental and Social Mitigation Measures

The proposed project will upon implementation of the specific agreed measures comply with IFC Performance Standards, and IFC environmental, health and safety guidelines. The Company’s plans for environmental and social management are summarized as follows: Environmental, Health, Safety and Social Management Under IFC’s investment, HTA will at all times have one officer overseeing at least one other person (employee or consultant) in managing the environmental and social risks and impacts of its operations. This officer will oversee the development a social and environmental management system (“SEMS”) for HTA, which will reflect elements of the SEMSs in place for Helios Towers Nigeria and Helios Investors II L.P. Fund, as appropriate. Helios Investors II L.P. Fund has submitted to IFC annual environmental performance reports that have been deemed satisfactory by IFC. Helios Towers Nigeria is also required to submit an annual environmental monitoring report, the first one of which will be due to IFC and reviewed by it prior to disbursement to HTA. Details of IFC’s environmental and social review of Helios Towers Nigeria are publicly disclosed in an Environmental and Social Review Summary for Helios Towers Nigeria. HTA’s officer responsible for managing HTA’s SEMS will be qualified for this work, will obtain training as needed, and will manage the preparation of an annual environmental monitoring report for IFC.. Using HTA’s SEMS, social and environmental review of any project proposed for investment will be conducted by HTA’s appraisal team, or the team will manage a consultant who will perform such review, as part of HTA’s overall due diligence. This social and environmental review will be appropriate to the nature and scale of HTA’s investment, and commensurate with the level of social and environmental risks and impacts in the relevant operations. This review will ensure that the operations with which it is involved will comply not only with all applicable social and environmental laws and regulations of the host country in which the operations are located, but also with IFC’s Performance Standards. To conduct its review before investing in any particular operations, HTA will look at project-specific information for each proposed investment. HTA will not finance any proposed investment that cannot be expected to comply with applicable standards. HTA will also supervise the social and environmental risks and impacts of all operations in which it invests for the duration of its involvement. In any proposed investment where HTA finds secondary containment structures around fuel tanks are not in place, HTA will promptly develop and within a reasonable timeframe implement a corrective action plan for putting secondary containment structures in place, consistent with IFC’s Telecommunications guidelines.

Stakeholder Engagement

**Information on IFC's Policy and Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability can be found at www.ifc.org/sustainability

IFC supports its clients in addressing environmental and social issues arising from their business activities by requiring its real sector clients to set up and administer appropriate grievance mechanisms and/or procedures to address complaints from Affected Communities in relation to environmental and social issues arising from IFC's clients' business activities. Since 2012, IFC's Financial Intermediary clients applying the Performance Standards are required to develop External Communications Mechanisms to receive and review inquiries or complaints from any interested party regarding the E&S risks and impacts of their operations.

For IFC projects that are active or under consideration, individual(s), or their authorized representative(s), who allege they have been or will be adversely affected by E&S risks or impacts arising from IFC's clients' business activities, may submit a complaint to IFC directly for consideration. When receiving an E&S complaint, IFC engages with complainants and works with its clients to find solutions to E&S concerns as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Complaints can be submitted to IFC online at www.ifc.org/escomplaints or by email to EScomplaints@ifc.org.

IFC complaint response is separate from and complementary to IFC’s clients’ project level grievance mechanisms and IFC’s Independent Accountability Mechanism (CAO). Lodging a complaint directly with IFC does not, at any time, restrict access to CAO.

Affected communities have unrestricted access to the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), the independent accountability mechanism for IFC and MIGA. CAO facilitates the resolution of complaints related to IFC and MIGA projects and sub-projects, undertakes reviews of IFC’s and MIGA’s environmental and social compliance, fosters public accountability for their commitments, and enhances the environmental and social performance of IFC and MIGA.

Independent of IFC and MIGA management and reporting directly to the IFC and MIGA Boards of Executive Directors, CAO helps resolve issues raised about the environmental and social impacts of projects through a neutral, collaborative, problem-solving approach via its Dispute Resolution function. It also reviews IFC’s and MIGA’s compliance with environmental and social policies, assesses related harm, and recommends remedial actions through its Compliance function. Additionally, CAO provides advice to IFC, MIGA, and their Boards to enhance environmental and social sustainability performance and minimize the risk of harm.

Complaints may relate to environmental and social harm regarding any aspect of the planning, implementation, or impact of a project or sub-project, and can be made by any individual, group, community, entity, or other party affected or likely to be affected by the environmental or social impacts of an IFC- or MIGA-financed business activity.

Complaints can be submitted by any of the following methods:

Online form: available at https://www.cao-ombudsman.org/
Mail/Hand Delivery to: 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA
Voice mail: +1 202 458 1973
Email: cao@worldbankgroup.org
SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal: +1 202 650 2627

CAO receives and addresses complaints in accordance with the CAO Policy, which can be accessed at: https://www.cao-ombudsman.org/policies-guidelines.

This Environmental and Social Review Summary (ESRS) is prepared by IFC to disclose its findings and recommendations related to environmental and social considerations regarding potential investments. Its purpose is to enhance the transparency of IFC's activities. For any project documentation or data included or attached herein, whether prepared by the project sponsor or otherwise, authorization has been given for public release by the project sponsor. IFC considers that this ESRS is of adequate quality for release to the public, but has not necessarily independently verified all of the project information therein.
It is distributed in advance of IFC Board of Directors' consideration and may be periodically updated thereafter. Board dates are estimates only and this document should not be construed as presuming the outcome of the Board Directors’ decision. The following ESRS is disclosed in accordance with IFC's Access to Information Policy (AIP).

The map is for illustrative purposes and does not imply the expression of any opinion on the part of the World Bank, concerning the legal status of any country or territory or concerning the delimitation of frontiers or boundaries. Country borders or names do not necessarily reflect the World Bank Group's official position. In some cases, available project location information is limited to the country of the project's activities. Locations are approximate.

Projects

Environmental & Social Review Summary

Project Description

Overview of IFC's Scope of Review

E & S Project Categorization and Applicable Standard

Identified Applicable Performance Standards

Environmental and Social Categorization and Rationale

Environmental and Social Mitigation Measures

Environmental and Social Mitigation Measures

Stakeholder Engagement

Stakeholder Engagement

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