Airtel Africa weighs $1 billion London listing
The telecoms company is looking at a billion-pound listing on the London Stock Exchange, with the capital raised used in part to pay down its debts.
Airtel Africa, a subsidiary of India-based telecoms group Bharti Airtel, announced on Tuesday that it is looking to list on the London Stock Exchange.
The telecoms company is hoping to raise more than $1 billion from its initial public offering (IPO), with part of the proceeds used to reduce the amount of debt on its balance sheet.
Airtel Africa IPO to support expansion efforts
The company has a strong presence in Africa, with it operating in 14 countries in the region including Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia.
Airtel Africa plans to use a portion of the funds raised from its upcoming IPO to help it expand its mobile and data service into more countries in Africa.
‘The 14 countries where we operate offer strong GDP growth potential and have young and fast-growing populations, low customer and data penetration and inadequate banking infrastructure,’ Bharti Airtel CEO Raghunath Mandava said.
‘These fast-growing markets provide us a great opportunity to grow both our telecom and payments businesses,’ he added.
Airtel Africa valued at over $5 billion
The telecoms operator has raised a significant amount of capital from various funding rounds, with the company securing $1.25 billion from six global investors last year, including SoftBank Group, Warburg Pincus and Temasek Holdings.
An additional $200 million was raised back in January from the Qatar Investment Authority, bringing Airtel Africa’s valuation to around $5 billion.
The recent string of capital raises has helped the telecoms company reduce the size of debt on its balance sheet from $7.7 billion last year to around $4 billion as of March 2019.
Airtel Africa plans to carry out a dual listing, with the operator also looking to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
This information has been prepared by IG, a trading name of IG Limited. In addition to the disclaimer below, the material on this page does not contain a record of our trading prices, or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instrument. IG accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of these comments and for any consequences that result. No representation or warranty is given as to the accuracy or completeness of this information. Consequently any person acting on it does so entirely at their own risk. Any research provided does not have regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation and needs of any specific person who may receive it. It has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such is considered to be a marketing communication. Although we are not specifically constrained from dealing ahead of our recommendations we do not seek to take advantage of them before they are provided to our clients.
CFDs are a leveraged products. CFD trading may not be suitable for everyone and can result in losses that exceed your initial deposit, so please ensure that you fully understand the risks involved.
Be ready to act on ECB opportunities
Learn how the ECB’s monetary policy announcements affect interest rates and price stability ahead of its next meeting in 12 December 2024.
- How might the next meeting affect the markets?
- What are the key rate decisions to watch?
- Why is the Governing Council announcement important for traders?
Live prices on most popular markets
- Forex
- Shares
- Indices
Prices above are subject to our website terms and agreements. Prices are indicative only. All shares prices are delayed by at least 15 mins.
