Airtel Africa IPO raises USD750m

Airtel Africa, the African division of Indian telecoms group Bharti Airtel, raised around USD750 million through a joint listing on the London and Nigerian stock exchanges, the operator confirmed in a regulatory filing on Friday. The initial public offering (IPO) comprised 744 million shares priced at GBP0.8 (USD1.02), representing around 19% of the company’s issued share capital. A further 67.6 million shares are being made available via an over-allotment option. Following the listing, Airtel Africa will have more than 25% of its shares in free float, the company added, ‘as certain pre-IPO investors’ holdings will constitute free float’. The issue price of GBP0.8 represented the bottom end of Airtel’s previously-announced price range of GBP0.8-GBP1.0, and the share price immediately fell to around GBP0.68, the Economic Times reports. Airtel will use the proceeds to cut its debt burden, which stands at around USD15 billion.