Airtel Money set for London IPO, seeks $800 million raise

Airtel Africa’s mobile money operation, Airtel Money, has confirmed plans for a London initial public offering (IPO), which would mark one of the London Stock Exchange’s biggest flotations in years. This follows the company’s intention-to-float announcement on Wednesday. 

The mobile payments business, which is controlled by Indian-owned telecoms group Airtel Africa, is seeking a valuation as high as $9 billion. The operation, which has 54.1 million active customers as of March 2026, is seeking to raise as much as $800m from investors, a figure it reduced from $1.5 billion.

Airtel Money Chief Executive Officer Ian Ferrao noted that the London listing will underpin the operation’s next wave of growth. 

“This listing will give us the platform to continue transforming financial services across Africa and to keep building value for our customers, our partners, African governments and our shareholders.“

“The opportunity ahead of us is substantial and, importantly, there are many demographic and digital tailwinds within the markets that we serve,” he added. 

Before finally sticking to London, the same market where Airtel Africa debuted its IPO in 2019, Airtel Money was weighing a listing in other venues, including the Middle East. However, political and macroeconomic tensions aborted the plan.

Delays in its IPO, which saw a shift from the first half of 2026 to the second half of 2026, have reduced its earlier ambition of reaching a $10 billion valuation.

Once the listing is completed, the company will operate as a standalone and publicly listed company separate from Airtel Africa’s broader telecoms business.

Also read: Airtel Money processes $61.4bn in Q2 transactions ahead of planned IPO.

What the Airtel Money IPO is all about 

Airtel Money is a dedicated mobile money and financial services arm of Airtel Africa, handling services including mobile wallets, transfers, and merchant payments. Airtel Africa currently owns 77.85% of Airtel Money, while the remaining 22.15% is held by minority institutional investors such as Mastercard, TPG, and QIA, who invested earlier. 

The London IPO is a secondary offering. This means that the mobile money is not issuing new shares to raise fresh capital for its own balance sheet. Existing shareholders, such as Airtel Africa and early minority investors, will sell a portion of their existing shares to public stock market investors.

The process allows current owners to turn part of their private equity stake in Airtel Money into liquid cash on the public market.

According to Airtel Africa, it will remain a long-term strategic shareholder of Airtel Money following the listing. While Airtel Africa may sell part of its 77.85% stake during the IPO, it would retain majority ownership and continue to support the company as an independent public entity.

For Airtel Money, the listing prompts investors and the stock market to value the business based on its own merits and also boosts shareholder value for Airtel Africa. It also gives Airtel Money a footprint to make partnerships, execute mergers, or acquire key technology talent independently.