Airtel Africa has announced plans to list its shares on London Stock Exchange through an initial public offering which is expected to be completed by June as it seeks to raise over $1 billion.
In a statement, the company said that the registration document had been submitted for approval to the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
“Airtel Africa has announced its potential intention to undertake an initial public offering (‘IPO’) for listing its equity shares on London Stock Exchange and the expected publication of a Registration Document that has been submitted for approval to the UK Financial Conduct Authority,” the company said in a statement.
In October, it completed an initial round of pre-IPO funding of $1.25 billion, by issuing 841,908,798 shares to six global investors, including SoftBank Group Corp., Warburg Pincus LLC, and Temasek Holdings (Private) Ltd, valuing the company at $4.4 billion.
Bharti Airtel has appointed JP Morgan, Citigroup Inc, BofA Merrill Lynch, Absa Group Limited, Barclays Bank PLC, HSBC, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs International, and Standard Bank Group Ltd as advisers for the venture.
The African subsidiary of Bharti Airtel will join 114 other African companies that are listed on the LSE, Kenya’s National Oil Company is one of the companies seeking to list on the UK bourse.
The company, which operates in 14 African markets is also seeking to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
In its recent report,‘ Companies to Inspire Africa’, London Stock Exchange revealed that 66 out of the 360 most inspirational businesses in Africa are based in Kenya.
