Airtel Africa has agreed to sell a 7.5 per cent stake in its mobile money arm to Qatar Holding LLC, a subsidiary of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), for around $200 million.
This is the latest in a series of fundraising efforts by Airtel to reduce company’s debt and invest in network infrastructure.
Earlier, Airtel Africa had sold a 3.75 per cent stake in its mobile money subsidiary to Mastercard for $100 million. Prior to that, it had also sold a 7.5 per cent stake in its mobile money business to TPG, a US private equity group, for $200 million.
The deal between Airtel Africa and QIA will be completed in two stages, $150 million will be invested at the first close once sufficient mobile money operations and contracts have been transferred into Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (AMC BV), the holding company for several of Airtel Africa’s mobile money operations; and $50 million will be invested at the second close upon subsequent transfers.
