Airtel Money targets $9 billion valuation in London IPO

Airtel Money is moving ahead with a London listing that could value the African mobile payments company at between $8 billion and $9 billion, bringing a sizeable new issue to a market starved of major initial public offerings (IPOs).

Existing shareholders are expected to sell about $800 million of stock, Reuters reported, citing a person close to the transaction. Airtel Money will not raise fresh capital from the offer.

Airtel Africa, which owns 77.85% of the business, formally announced the flotation on Wednesday, 23 September. Airtel Money plans to list on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, with a free float of at least 10%.

The International Finance Corporation has agreed to buy as much as £67.2 million, or about $90 million, of shares as a key investor.

A prospectus setting out the indicative price range and number of shares is expected in early October, with final pricing planned for the middle of the month.

At around $800 million, the offering would be London’s largest IPO since 2021, according to Mergermarket. The exchange has struggled to attract large new listings in recent years as companies sought higher valuations or deeper pools of capital elsewhere.

Airtel Money had originally planned to list in the first half of this year but postponed the deal after market conditions deteriorated during the US-Israeli war on Iran.

The company is now pressing ahead despite continuing market volatility.

“We believe in London and I think it’s going to be a good home for us,” Chief Executive Ian Ferrao told Reuters.

Airtel Money operates across 13 African countries and had about 53 million monthly active users at the end of June. Its network included more than 2.3 million agents and about 490,000 merchants.

Transactions worth about $213 billion passed through the platform in the 12 months to June, according to the company’s IPO material.

Revenue reached about $1.35 billion in the year ended March 2026, while EBITDA was about $676 million, giving the business an EBITDA margin of 50%.

The platform handles cash deposits and withdrawals, transfers, merchant payments and bill payments. Airtel Money has also been pushing into lending, savings, insurance, cards and cross-border payments as customers increasingly use mobile wallets for transactions that were once largely cash-based.

That expansion has been particularly rapid in markets where access to conventional banking remains limited. Airtel Africa says Airtel Money currently reaches about 41% of the telecom subscribers available to it across its footprint, leaving more than 75 million Airtel customers who do not yet use the payments service.

The business has also been trying to shift users beyond basic deposits, withdrawals and person-to-person transfers.

Revenue from merchant and bill payments rose 61% in the 12 months to June. More than $1 billion of loans were disbursed through partners across five markets during the same period, while savings and wealth-management products were available in four.

The IPO has a strong Indian connection through Airtel Africa’s relationship with Bharti Airtel. Gopal Vittal, executive vice chairman of Bharti Airtel, chairs Airtel Africa, while several of the group’s businesses share technology, procurement and other links with the Indian telecom company.

Airtel Africa itself has traded in London since 2019 and is a member of the FTSE 100.

The mobile money unit has attracted outside investors before. TPG, Mastercard, Qatar Investment Authority and Chimetech invested a combined $550 million in 2021, when the business was valued at an enterprise value of about $2.65 billion.

Airtel Africa said it plans to remain a long-term strategic shareholder after the IPO.

The valuation being sought is below some of the figures discussed during earlier preparations for the flotation. The company had previously considered a sale of as much as $1.5 billion to $2 billion, while valuations around $10 billion had been discussed.

An $800 million share sale would be the city’s largest IPO in five years if completed at that size. Airtel Money would also arrive as a separately listed financial technology company rather than being valued inside Airtel Africa’s broader telecom business.