Airtel Africa, a unit of Bharti Airtel, plans to raise $750 million through a listing on the London Stock Exchange, the proceeds of which will be used to reduce the net debt.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

“The offer is targeted to raise $750 million (plus primary greenshoe option of up to 15%) and will be used to reduce net debt,” Bharti Airtel said in a regulatory filing.

Airtel Africa intends to proceed with an initial public offering for admission and listing of its shares on the main market of London Stock Exchange (premium segment). Additionally, Airtel Africa is also considering listing its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

RINGING LOUDER
  • The company intends to have a free float of at least 25% of its issued share capital  
  • Last year, Airtel Africa had raised $1.25 billion from six global investors

The company intends to have a free float of at least 25% of its issued share capital, and certain pre-IPO investors are expected to contribute towards the proposed free float.

“The indicative price range in respect of the offer as well as the number of shares to be sold in the offer, will be determined in due course and contained in the prospectus expected to be published by Airtel Africa in the coming weeks,” it said.

Last year, Airtel Africa had raised $1.25 billion from six global investors including SoftBank Group Corp, Warburg Pincus LLC and Temasek Holdings (Private) Ltd, valuing the company at $4.4 billion. Airtel operates in 14 African markets including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Uganda and Zambia. Airtel Africa has a debt of around $3.5 billion. 

“Since first investing in Africa almost nine years ago, we have well leveraged our expertise in emerging markets to deliver on a clearly-defined strategy to build Airtel Africa into a market-leading mobile service provider, increasingly expanding beyond voice into data services and Airtel Money. Today, Airtel Africa is the second largest mobile operator in Africa,” Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Airtel Africa had said recently.

“With the recent equity investments into the business by globally recognised long-term investors, Airtel Africa is in a strong position to build its own capital market profile, allowing others to join us in a real business success story,” he said.

The new Board of Directors is committed to carrying forward the strong legacy of corporate governance of the parent company, Mittal said.

For the quarter ended March this year, the Africa business reported a net profit of $83 million aided by increased data consumption and a rise in transaction volume on the Airtel Money platform. It had posted a loss of $49 million in the same quarter a year ago.