Nigeria, Feb. 18 -- MTN Group has reached a formal understanding with IHS Towers, the long-standing provider of its tower infrastructure, regarding its proposal to acquire all the shares held by others in the company, apart from itself.

The Johannesburg-based, Africa's largest wireless operator, already holds about 24.7 per cent of the target firm's shares.

It now looks to purchase the remainder of the New York-listed company at an offer price of $8.5 per share, according to a statement released on Tuesday. The enterprise value of the deal is set at $6.2 billion, IHS Tower stated in a separate statement issued in New York and London, where it is headquartered.

Widely used in M&As, enterprise value measures the cost of acquiring a compa...