AIRTEL MONEY SHARES BEGIN TRADING IN £5.3BN LONDON IPO

Airtel Money began conditional trading on the London Stock Exchange on Friday in a £5.3 billion flotation, the largest London listing in five years. Shares were priced at £1.96 each when dealing opened at 8am. Accounts of early trading differed: one said shares rose as high as £2 before easing to around £1.94 within the first hour, while another said they opened flat before rising about 2%. Existing shareholders sold 270 million shares, raising around £529 million, with an over-allotment option taking the total to £582 million. Unconditional dealing is due to begin on 14 October.

Airtel Money has been spun off from Airtel Africa, a FTSE 100-listed telecoms provider majority-owned by Bharti Enterprises, the Indian conglomerate run by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Airtel Africa, described as Africa's third-largest wireless carrier, has been listed in London since 2019, and Airtel Money says it serves more than 50 million customers. Shareholders include the Qatar Investment Authority and Mastercard, which holds just under 4% of the business after a 2021 investment valuing it at $2.7 billion. The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank Group's private-sector arm, took a £67.2 million cornerstone stake.

Mittal described the listing as a vote of confidence in the UK as an investment destination, citing a stable business and policy environment. Airtel Money's chief executive, Ian Ferrao, called it a landmark moment and a new chapter for the business. One report said it was London's biggest listing since Wise in 2021; another said Deliveroo and Wise floated near £8 billion that year, before Deliveroo's delisting and Wise's move to New York. Airtel has said a successful flotation could make the business eligible for inclusion in the FTSE 100.