Third update - Airtel Money plans to set its valuation at $7 billion in its initial public offering, injecting momentum into the London market

For additional details, background and analyst commentary, see paragraphs 4, 7, 8, and 10

Yamini Kalia/Atharva Singh

Reuters, October 1 - Airtel Africa (AAF.L)'s mobile payments unit, Airtel Money, plans to seek a valuation of about $7 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange (link), potentially providing a much-needed boost to the London market, which has struggled in recent years to attract large company listings (link).

The company said on Thursday it plans to sell 270 million shares at a fixed price of £1.96 per share in the IPO, aiming to raise approximately $703 million ahead of its listing in mid-October.

Over the past decade, the size of the London market has continued to shrink (link) as companies have sought higher valuations elsewhere, prompting the UK to simplify (link) its listing rules in a bid to attract more issuers.

"This transaction shows that London can still attract sizeable international IPOs, but also indicates that it's currently a buyer's market where companies must keep valuation expectations realistic," said Lukas Muhlbauer, research associate at IPOX.

According to Dealogic data, the fundraising of about $703 million will be the largest IPO in London since Fermi Inc's dual listing on FRMI.O in September 2025.

Valuation cut

Airtel Money's target valuation is slightly lower than the previously reported $800 million deal size—at that level, it would have been the largest London IPO in five years.

Samuel Kerr from Mergermarket, an M&A analytics platform, said, "This is clearly a conservative structure." He added that a fixed-price offering avoids the “psychological drama” associated with IPO price ranges and gives investors a clear “take-it-or-leave-it” choice.

Airtel Africa had previously said that choosing London for Airtel Money’s IPO was aimed at tapping into a broad international investor base for the fintech company, which focuses on sub-Saharan Africa, is headquartered in the Netherlands, and has a strategic office in Dubai.

This secondary offering will not provide any proceeds to Airtel Money or its parent, and the company is expected to have a free float of approximately 16.5%.

Trading of its shares is expected to start on October 14.

The shareholders selling shares include the TPG-backed private equity firm The Rise Fund II Aurora, Qatar sovereign wealth fund Qatar Holding, payments company Mastercard, and telecom investment firm Chimetech.

(1 US dollar = 0.7540 pound sterling)

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