Airtel Money, the mobile money arm of London-listed Airtel Africa, has confirmed its intention to float on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.
The firm will have an expected valuation of around $9 billion (£6.8bn) – below earlier expectations of up to $10bn – and see it raise around £600m.
The news is a boost for the UK capital markets after UK-based AI infrastructure firm Nscale chose to list in New York rather than London.
Airtel Money operates across 14 Sub-Saharan African countries, with more than 56m active users, and revenue is up over a quarter to $1.36bn in its latest results.
Its legal headquarters are in the Netherlands, with strategic offices in Dubai.
Airtel Africa currently owns about 78% of Airtel Money while minority stakes are held by TPG, Mastercard, the Qatar Investment Authority and Chimetech Holding.
The IPO will be completed through a secondary offering of existing shares. Trading is expected to begin in October, subject to market conditions and regulatory approval.
It originally intended to list in the first half of 2026 but postponed the move amid unfavourable market conditions tied to the US-Israeli war on Iran.
“I think we’ve got relatively good market conditions. Yes, there’s some volatility right now, but if you look at a lot of the indexes, they are performing (well),” Airtel Money CEO Ian Ferrao told Reuters. “When it comes down to it, London has deep capital available.
“Our brand is well known, and that’s probably made it easier for us to walk into London and to talk to all of the investors.
“We believe in London and I think it’s going to be a good home for us.”
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