Orange has selected BNP Paribas and Morgan Stanley as advisors on a proposed initial public offering (IPO) of its Africa and the Middle East (A&ME) business, Bloomberg reports citing people familiar with the matter. The banks are helping with preparations for the listing, though an underwriting syndicate has not yet been formalised, with Orange planning to invite more banks to join the deal at a later stage. The unnamed sources claim that Orange is considering London and Paris as potential venues for the share sale, which could take place as soon as the first half of 2020.
Orange is currently present in 18 countries in Africa and the Middle East, with a total of 124.333 million customers as of 30 September 2019. The unit generated revenues of EUR4.184 billion (USD4.65 billion) in 9M 2019, equivalent to 13.4% of the group’s total.