Airtel Money Sets £1.96 Share Price For London Listed IPO, Values Total Shares At £5.3bn

Airtel Money has set the price for its planned share sale at £1.96 per share, a total value of sales estimated at £5.3 billion ($7 billion). The company announced this recently, ahead of its planned listing on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. Admission to the exchange is expected on October 14, 2026.

Airtel Money is the mobile money arm of Airtel Africa. Last month the company had revealed that it planned to go ahead with the initial public offering (IPO), the process through which a company sells its shares to the public for the first time.

Under the offer, some existing shareholders will sell 270 million shares. Up to 27 million more shares may be sold if the over-allotment option is fully used. This is an arrangement that lets the banks running the sale offer extra shares if demand is strong. At the offer price, the 270 million shares are worth about £529 million. Because existing shareholders are the sellers, the company is not raising fresh money for itself in the sale.

Airtel Africa does not expect to sell any of its shares, except through the over-allotment option. It is expected to stay on as a long-term strategic shareholder.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has also agreed to buy up to £67.2 million ($90 million) worth of shares from existing shareholders at the offer price.

If the over-allotment option is not used, about 16.5 per cent of Airtel Money’s issued shares are expected to be in public hands. This could rise to about 17.5 per cent if the maximum extra shares are sold. The company said this level of public ownership would make it eligible for inclusion in the FTSE UK indices.

The institutional offer is expected to close at 2:00 p.m. London time on October 8, while the retail offer closes at 5:00 p.m. the same day. Conditional trading, which is early trading that depends on the listing going ahead, is expected to start on October 9. Full trading is due to begin at 8:00 a.m. London time on October 14.

The retail offer is open only to investors who live in and are physically in the United Kingdom. They can apply through participating investment platforms, brokers and wealth managers, with a minimum application of £250.

The company said its prospectus, which carries further details of the offer, was published on October 1.