Telecom Egypt is set to divest a data center campus to investment firm Helios.

The Egyptian telco this week announced that its board of directors has granted preliminary approval of the binding offer submitted by Helios Investments to acquire a stake ranging from 75-80 percent in a subsidiary that will own the Regional Data Hub (RDH) data center assets of Telecom Egypt.

RDH is a multi-phase data center campus in Cairo. Announced in 2020, the first phase launched in 2021 and provides approximately 2.5MW of IT load; it reached full utilization within a year. RDH2 is designed for approximately 4.6MW. The site can reportedly host up to 4,000 racks across four buildings.

Telecom Egypt said the subsidiary owned by the two parties will engage in the business of data center development in Egypt, though further details weren’t shared.

Upon completion, Telecom Egypt will retain approximately a 20-25 percent stake in the business.

The binding offer submitted by Helios Investments values the RDH business at $230 million and could reach up to $260 million, subject to meeting certain pre-agreed KPIs.

Founded in 2004, Helios is a London-based private equity investment firm focused on Africa. It has previously invested in Afsat Communications and Helios Towers. In 2022, the company took majority stakes in Morocco's Maroc Datacenter and Kenya’s IXAfrica.

In October 2022, the company divested its 60 percent stake in Telkom Kenya to the Kenyan state.

EFG Hermes is acting as the sole M&A financial advisor on the transaction. ADSERO-Ragy Soliman & Partners, and A&O Shearman are acting as the legal advisors for Telecom Egypt.

At the time of the announcement to build the RDH, Telecom Egypt owned and operated six commercial data center facilities located across Greater Cairo and Alexandria. A recent fire at the telco’s Ramses data center in Cairo killed four people and injured around 26 others.