Airtel Money Debuts On London Stock Exchange, Biggest Listing In 5 Years

Airtel Money, the mobile payments arm of Airtel Africa, made its debut on the London Stock Exchange on Friday. The conditional trading for the shares began on the day, with full trading and formal admission expected on October 14.

Shares opened flat before rising as much as 2 per cent, to about 2 pounds, above the 1.96 pounds IPO price, Reuters reported. The listing is one of the biggest IPO on the bourse in recent years.

The mobile payments firm raised around 529 million pounds (Rs 5,820 crore) by selling 270 million shares at 1.96 pounds each. The offering valued Airtel Mobile Commerce NV, the company's formal name, at approximately 5.3 billion pounds. Existing shareholders, including Qatar Investment Authority and TPG Inc., sold shares in the IPO. The stock will trade under the ticker symbol "AMC". How the company trades will be the next test in London's efforts to revitalise its capital markets.

On the development, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder of Airtel and Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, said: "I am delighted to welcome the successful listing of Airtel Money on the London Stock Exchange. This listing is a vote of confidence in the UK as an attractive global destination for investment...."

Mittal further said Airtel Africa listed in London in 2019, given the UK's established investor base and willingness to invest in dynamic emerging market companies. "The same conditions made London the obvious choice for this new listing in 2026. The over-subscription of the Airtel Money offering shows the appetite of the UK market for high-quality investable assets," he added.

Airtel Money is a popular fintech platform across a dozen Sub-Saharan African nations and has processed $213 billion in the 12 months through June. The company reportedly has 53 million monthly active users and operates a range of branches and kiosks for paying utility bills, arranging microloans, and buying goods.