India’s telecom company Bharti Airtel has picked UBS, Citi, and JP Morgan to coordinate an initial public offering (IPO) in London for its African business according to sources knowledgeable on the matter.
Although Airtel and the banks have been reportedly silent on the matter including when the IPO will happen, the telco in February said it was considering launching an IPO. This according to an article on Reuters.
Airtel’s African business contributes more than a quarter of its revenue which represents $20 billion in market capitalisation.
Airtel’s Africa Market
Bharti Airtel has operations in about 16 African countries including Chad, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, and Ghana.
In the quarter ending June 2018, Airtel’s revenue from Africa was $2.80 billion and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were $934.1 billion. As of March 2017, the telco had 78 million subscribers on the continent.
