Airtel Africa targets GBP5.3 billion value for Airtel Money in IPO
(Alliance News) - Airtel Africa PLC on Thursday said its mobile payments company, Airtel Mobile Commerce NV, known as Airtel Money, will be valued at GBP5.3 billion when it begins trading later this month.
The London-based telecommunications company said the initial public offer of Airtel Money will be priced at 196 pence per share.
Existing investors in Airtel Money are expected to sell 270 million shares, worth around GBP529 million, although Airtel Africa itself is not likely to offload any stock.
International Finance Corp has committed to buy up to GBP67.2 million of shares from existing shareholders at the offer price, as part of a cornerstone investment agreement.
Airtel Africa, which is majority-owned by Indian telecommunications company Bharti Airtel Ltd, currently owns around 78% of Airtel Money.
In a statement, Airtel Africa said it expects to "remain a long-term strategic shareholder and to support Airtel Money's next phase of development as an independently listed business".
Shares in Airtel Africa were down 1.2% at 297.00 pence each in London on Thursday, with the wider FTSE 100 2.0% lower.
Following the IPO, it is expected that around 17% of Airtel Money's issued ordinary share capital will be held in public hands.
Airtel Money expects it would have a free float that would make it eligible for inclusion in the FTSE UK indices.
Conditional trading in Airtel Money is expected to commence on October 9, with unconditional dealings starting on October 14.
Airtel Money operates across 13 African markets and had around 53 million monthly active users as of June 30.
It was launched within Airtel Africa in 2011. Minority shareholders TPG, Mastercard Inc, Qatar Investment Authority and Chimetech Holding Ltd invested a combined USD550 million in the business in 2021.
Additional details in relation to the offer will be disclosed in the prospectus, which is expected to be published later Thursday.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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