One of Africa’s biggest telecoms firms is plotting a float in London that could value it at towards £4 billion.
Airtel Africa wants to sell 25% of its stock to new investors, raising almost £1 billion in the process, mostly to pay down debt.
It has hired nine banks to get the deal done, including JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citi, Barclays and Goldman Sachs.
If all goes well, the stock could start trading in London next month.
Airtel Africa raised $1.25 billion (£984 million) last year from investors that included Temasek and SoftBank.
It operates in 14 African countries including Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria. It is a subsidiary of India’s Bharti Airtel and is also looking to list on the Nigerian stock exchange.
Bharti, backed by billionaire Sunil Mittal, is fighting intense competition in its home market from Reliance Jio.
Reliance’s low-cost offer has seen Airtel’s customer numbers plunge in India.
The statement announcing the float today claims Airtel is finding business in Africa much less challenging. Profit margins in Nigeria, for example, are around 50% of revenues.
