Airtel Africa to List on London Stock Exchange

• Airtel Africa to List on London Stock Exchange

Airtel Africa, one of Africa’s largest telecommunication firms, has announced plans to list on London Stock Exchange to reduce current debt.

The telecommunication company said it plans to raise $1 billion through an Initial Public Offer (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange, representing 25 percent of its shares.

In a statement released on the Bombay Stock Exchange, Airtel said: “In furtherance to our previous intimations in this regard, we wish to inform you that Airtel Africa, a subsidiary of the company, has announced its potential intention to undertake an initial public offering for listing its equity shares on London Stock Exchange.”

In 2018, the company raised $1.25 billion from six global investors to ease debt burden and expand business reach in Africa. SoftBank Group Corp, Warburg Pincus LLC and Temasek Holdings (Private) Ltd were some of the investors.

Another $200 million was raised from Qatar Investment Authority in March of the same year. Therefore, the company was able to reduce its debt from $7.7 billion in March 2018 to $4 billion.

Raghunath Mandava, Airtel CEO, said “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.

“These fast-growing markets provide us a great opportunity to grow both our telecom and payments businesses.”

The telecommunication company is expected to list in two months’ time, according to the company.

While BofA Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan, and Citigroup have been appointed as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners, Absa Group, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs International, HSBC and the Standard Bank of South Africa will also act as joint bookrunners if the offer proceeds.