Airtel Africa has pushed back the planned initial public offering of Airtel Money to the second half of 2026, the third deferral of a listing that was originally targeted for July 2025, as market volatility from the war in Iran suppresses London IPO appetite.
- •Bloomberg has reported the listing could raise between US$ 1.5Bn and US $2Bn and value Airtel Money at up to $10Bn, which would rank it among the largest fintech listings in London's history.
- •Airtel Money's customer base grew 21.3% to 54.1 million in FY2026, while app transacting customers rose 74% year on year.
- •In FY2022, Airtel Africa sold minority stakes in Airtel Mobile Commerce B.V., the holding company for its mobile money operations, to TPG's The Rise Fund and Mastercard.
Under those agreements, the company wrote put options allowing investors to sell their stakes back at fair value if no IPO had occurred within 48 months. That deadline was extended by 12 months in August 2025, moving the exercisable date to approximately July 2026.
The put option liability stands at US$ 515Mn on the balance sheet. If the IPO does not proceed before that date, Airtel Africa faces a forced buyout of the asset valued at up to US$ 10Bn, at a price it does not control.
CEO Sunil Taldar has stated the commitment plainly. "We have made good progress and remain committed to the listing as market conditions allow, with the intention of undertaking the IPO in the second half of 2026," he said on Friday.
Annualised total processed value exceeded $215Bn in the fourth quarter, nearly eightfold the $23.6Bn recorded at the group's 2019 London and Lagos listing. Revenue reached $1.36Bn, up 36.3%, now accounting for 21.1% of group revenue.
That context reframes the group's capital allocation decisions. Airtel Africa completed its second US$ 100Mn share buyback programme on 24 March 2026, purchasing 44.97 million shares at a volume-weighted average price of GBP169.44, bringing total shareholder returns via buybacks to US$ 200Mn across two programmes since March 2024.
The board simultaneously recommended a final dividend of 4.26 cents per share, lifting the full-year total to 7.10 cents, up 9.2% and the fifth consecutive annual increase since the group cut its dividend to 4.00 cents during the pandemic year of FY2021. The share count has fallen from 3,703 million weighted average shares in FY2025 to 3,650 million in FY2026, a reduction that has directly supported EPS growth alongside the operational improvement.
