Airtel Money debuts on London Stock Exchange at $7 billion valuation

Airtel Money, the mobile money subsidiary of Airtel Africa, has commenced trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) main market. The IPO is priced at a $7 billion valuation, making it the largest debut on the LSE in five years.

The transaction is a secondary offering rather than a primary capital raise, involving the sale of a 270 million share block by Airtel Africa and existing shareholders to generate approximately $700 million in proceeds. No new equity was issued to the company's operational balance sheet; instead, the listing allows existing investors to crystallize returns and establish a public market reference price.

Key participants in the deal include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector lending arm of the World Bank, which committed $90 million to the offering. Other existing minority shareholders involved in the sale include TPG’s The Rise Fund, Mastercard, the Qatar Investment Authority, and Chimetech. The offering was co-managed by a syndicate including Citigroup, Barclays, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase.

Airtel Money operates across 14 Sub-Saharan African countries and serves more than 56 million active users. The company reported revenue of $1.36 billion in its latest results.