Airtel Africa’s London float to value it at £3bn – £3.6bn
One of Africa’s largest telecoms businesses said today it would float in London at a value of £3bn to £3.6bn.
Airtel Africa announced the price range for its upcoming listing, setting its share price at 80p to 100p.
The offer is expected to comprise 595m to 744m new shares to raise gross proceeds of approximately £595m.
Excluding a 10 per cent over-allotment option, the offer is expected to raise approximately £541m.
The company expects to have a free float of at least 25 per cent of its issued share capital and said it expects to be eligible for inclusion in the Ftse indices.
The group is owned by Indian telecoms giant Bharti Airtel.
Airtel Africa said it intends to use the proceeds of the float to reduce net debt.
The company is also planning on listing its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Final pricing is expected to be announced on or around 28 June, with conditional dealings in the shares expected to begin on the London Stock Exchange on the same day.
JP Morgan Securities, BofA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, JP Morgan Cazenove, Absa, Barclays Bank, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Standard Bank have been engaged to advise on the offer.
Chief executive Raghunath Mandava said: “We have built Airtel Africa into the second largest mobile operator in Africa and our clear strategy and efficient business model make us well positioned to capture the growth opportunities across our markets, in voice, data and mobile money.
“Our leadership position, positive track record and the exciting growth opportunities in the markets where we operate, have resulted in significant interest in our business. We are excited to be able to give an opportunity to a broader audience of institutional investors to participate in some of the fastest growing telecom and payment markets in the world through the IPO of Airtel Africa shares on the London Stock Exchange.”