IHS Holding (4JB) Risk Analysis

Certain of our directors and management and certain of the other parties named in this Annual Report reside outside the United States. Most of our assets and such persons' assets are located outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for investors to effect service of process upon us within the United States or other jurisdictions, including judgments predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States. In particular, investors should be aware that there is uncertainty as to whether the courts of the Cayman Islands or any other applicable jurisdictions would recognize and enforce judgments of U.S. courts obtained against us or our directors or management predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States or entertain original actions brought in the Cayman Islands or any other applicable jurisdictions courts against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States.

Our Articles contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that shareholders may consider to be in their best interests. Our board of directors has the ability to designate the terms of and issue preferred shares without shareholder approval. In addition, Board vacancies may be filled by an affirmative vote of the remaining Board members. The directors are divided into three classes designated as Class I, Class II and Class III, respectively, and directors will generally be elected to serve staggered three-year terms. The term of the Class I Directors shall expire at the third annual general meeting of the Company in 2024. The term of office of the Class II Directors shall expire at the fourth annual general meeting of the Company in 2025. The term of office of the Class III Directors shall expire at the fifth annual general meeting of the Company in 2026. A Director whose term has expired may be reappointed in accordance with the terms of the Articles. These provisions may make it more difficult to remove directors. Pursuant to the terms of a settlement agreement that the Company entered into with Wendel, at the Company's annual general meeting for fiscal year 2024, shareholders will have the opportunity to approve an amendment to our Articles that would declassify the board of directors.  If approved, that amendment to our Articles would provide for all directors to be elected on an annual basis rather than a staggered basis following the annual general meeting for fiscal year 2025. Our Articles contain a prohibition on business combinations with any "interested" shareholder for a period of three years after such person becomes an interested shareholder unless (1) there is advance approval of our Board, (2) the interested shareholder owns at least 85% of our voting shares at the time the business combination commences or (3) the combination is approved by shareholders holding at least two-thirds of the votes attaching to the ordinary shares that are not held by the interested shareholder. Taken together, these provisions may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our ordinary shares.

Our Articles provide unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum (a) the federal courts of the United States shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear, settle and/or determine any dispute, controversy or claim arising under the provisions of the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, which are referred to as the U.S. Actions; and (b) save for such U.S. Actions, the courts of the Cayman Islands shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any claim or dispute arising out of or in connection with the Articles or otherwise related in any way to each member's shareholding in us, including but not limited to (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of us; (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees to us (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the Companies Act of the Cayman Islands or the Articles; or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us concerning our internal affairs. This choice of forum provision may increase a shareholder's cost and limit the shareholder's ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any of our shares or other securities, whether by transfer, sale, operation of law or otherwise, shall be deemed to have notice of and have irrevocably agreed and consented to these provisions. The enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies' charter documents has been challenged in legal proceedings. It is possible that a court could find this type of provision to be inapplicable or unenforceable, and if a court were to find this provision in our Articles to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and/or results of operations.

Our corporate affairs are governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (our "Articles"), the Companies Act and the common law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take legal action against our directors and us, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from English common law, which has persuasive, but not binding, authority on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under the laws of the Cayman Islands are not as clearly defined as under statutes or judicial precedent in existence in jurisdictions in the United States. Therefore, you may have more difficulty protecting your interests than would shareholders of a corporation incorporated in a jurisdiction in the United States, due to the comparatively less well-developed Cayman Islands law in this area. A merger or consolidation may proceed under Cayman Islands law in one of two ways: by a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement or by a statutory merger. While Cayman Islands law allows a shareholder objecting to a court sanctioned scheme of arrangement to express a view that such scheme of arrangement would not provide fair value for the shareholder's shares, Cayman Islands statutory and common law in respect of schemes of arrangement does not specifically provide for shareholder appraisal rights in connection with a merger or consolidation effected by a scheme of arrangement of a company that has otherwise received the prescribed shareholder approval. This may make it more difficult for you to assess the value of any consideration you may receive in a merger or consolidation effected by a scheme of arrangement or to require that the acquirer gives you additional consideration if you believe the consideration offered is insufficient. However, in the event of a merger or consolidation under the statutory merger regime, Cayman Islands law does provide a mechanism for a dissenting shareholder to require us to apply to the Grand Court for a determination of the fair value of the dissenter's shares if it is not possible for the company and the dissenter to agree on a fair price within the time limits prescribed. Shareholders of Cayman Islands exempted companies such as ours, have no general rights under Cayman Islands law to inspect corporate records and accounts or to obtain copies of lists of shareholders. Our directors have discretion under our Articles to determine whether or not, and under what conditions, our corporate records may be inspected by our shareholders, but are not obliged to make them available to our shareholders. This may make it more difficult for you to obtain information needed to establish any facts necessary for a shareholder motion or to solicit proxies from other shareholders in connection with a proxy contest. It should be noted that the Cayman Islands law has no legislation specifically dedicated to the rights of investors in securities, and thus no statutorily defined private causes of action to investors in securities such as those found under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act in the United States. Subject to limited exceptions, under Cayman Islands law, a shareholder may not bring a derivative action against the board of directors. Class actions are not recognized in the Cayman Islands, but groups of shareholders with identical interests may bring representative proceedings, which are similar. As a result of all of the above, our public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by our management or members of the board of directors than they would as public shareholders of a company incorporated in the United States.

Our quarterly operating results are likely to fluctuate in the future in response to numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, including each of the factors set forth above. In addition, securities markets worldwide have experienced, and are likely to continue to experience, significant price and volume fluctuations. This market volatility, as well as general economic, market or political conditions, could subject the market price of our ordinary shares to wide price fluctuations regardless of our operating performance. Our operating results and the trading price of our ordinary shares may fluctuate in response to various factors, including the risks described above. These and other factors, many of which are beyond our control, may cause our operating results and the market price and demand for our ordinary shares to fluctuate substantially. Fluctuations in our quarterly operating results could limit or prevent investors from readily selling their ordinary shares and may otherwise negatively affect the market price and liquidity of ordinary shares. In addition, in the past, when the market price of a stock has been volatile, holders of that stock have sometimes instituted securities class action litigation against the company that issued the shares. If any of our shareholders brought a lawsuit against us, we could incur substantial costs defending the lawsuit. Such a lawsuit could also divert the time and attention of our management from our business, which could significantly harm our profitability and reputation.

We cannot assure you that an active trading market for our ordinary shares will be sustained. If a market is not sustained, it may be difficult for you to sell your ordinary shares. Public trading markets may also experience volatility and disruption. This may affect the pricing of the ordinary shares in the secondary market, the transparency and availability of trading prices, the liquidity of the ordinary shares and the extent of regulation applicable to us. We cannot predict the prices at which our ordinary shares will trade. It is possible that, in future quarters, our operating results may be below the expectations of securities analysts and investors. As a result of these and other factors, the price of our ordinary shares may decline, possibly materially.

As a foreign private issuer, we have the option to follow certain home country corporate governance practices rather than those of the NYSE, provided that we disclose the requirements we are not following and describe the home country practices we are following. We intend to rely on this "foreign private issuer exemption" with respect to the NYSE rules for shareholder meeting quorums and record dates and the NYSE rules requiring shareholders to approve equity compensation plans and material revisions thereto, neither of which is required under the Cayman Islands law. We may in the future elect to follow home country practices with regard to other matters, including the requirement that listed companies have a majority of independent directors unless the company is a "controlled company" and the requirement that listed companies have a compensation and nominating and corporate governance committee comprised entirely of independent directors. As a result, our shareholders may not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all NYSE corporate governance requirements.

If a United States person is treated as owning (directly, indirectly, or constructively) at least 10% of the value or voting power of the ordinary shares, such person may be treated as a "United States shareholder" with respect to each "controlled foreign corporation" in the Group (if any). A United States shareholder of a controlled foreign corporation may be required to report annually and include in its U.S. taxable income its pro rata share of "Subpart F income," "global intangible low-taxed income," and investments in U.S. property by controlled foreign corporations, regardless of whether the Company makes any distributions. An individual that is a United States shareholder with respect to a controlled foreign corporation generally would not be allowed certain tax deductions or foreign tax credits that would be allowed to a United States shareholder that is a U.S. corporation. Failure to comply with these reporting obligations may subject a United States shareholder to significant monetary penalties and may prevent the statute of limitations with respect to such United States shareholder's U.S. federal income tax return for the year for which reporting was due from starting. The Company cannot provide any assurances that it will assist holders of the ordinary shares in determining whether any of its non-U.S. subsidiaries is treated as a controlled foreign corporation or whether any holder of the ordinary shares is treated as a United States shareholder with respect to any such controlled foreign corporation or furnish to any United States shareholders information that may be necessary to comply with the aforementioned reporting and tax paying obligations. A U.S. Holder (as defined in Item 10.E. "Taxation-Material United States Federal Income Tax Considerations.") should consult its advisors regarding the potential application of these rules to an investment in the ordinary shares.

Under United States federal income tax laws, if a company is, or for any past period during which a United States shareholder held shares in such company was, a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, it could have adverse United States federal income tax consequences to such United States shareholder even if the company is no longer a PFIC. We do not believe that we currently are or have been a PFIC for the taxable year ending December 31, 2023, and we do not expect to be a PFIC in the future. However, the determination of whether we are a PFIC is a factual determination made annually based on all the facts and circumstances after the close of each taxable year, and the principles and methodology used in determining whether a company is a PFIC are subject to ambiguities and different interpretations. Therefore, we cannot assure you that we will not be a PFIC for the current taxable year or in the future. If we are a PFIC, United States shareholders would be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences. United States purchasers of our ordinary shares are urged to consult their tax advisors concerning United States federal income tax consequences of holding our ordinary shares if we are considered to be a PFIC. See the discussion under Item 10.E. "Taxation-Material United States Federal Income Tax Considerations."