Airtel Africa shares sink in disappointing London debut
By Duncan Ferris
Date: Friday 28 Jun 2019
(Sharecast News) - Airtel Africa had a lacklustre debut on the London stock exchange on Friday, with its shares hitting a low of 70 pence after earlier setting the price for its flotation at 80 pence per share.
That flotation price was already the bottom of its previously announced 80-100p range and valued the business at around £3.1bn.
Airtel, a subsidiary of India's Bharti Airtel which operates a telecoms and mobile money business across 14 African countries, raised £595m through concurrent listings on the London and Nigerian stock exchanges, selling about 19% of its stock in the process, with the company planning to use the proceeds to pay down debt.
In a statement issued before the start of trading on the London Stock Exchange on Friday morning, chief executive Raghunath Mandava said: "We are delighted by the strong response we have received from the many high-quality investors from around the world. This is a proud moment for the team that has built Airtel Africa into the second largest mobile operator in Africa."
Airtel Africa's shares were down 12.78% at 68.03p at 1324 BST.
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