· Airtel Africa has announced through the London Stock Exchange its decision to sell an undisclosed minority stake in its Pan-African Airtel Money business to private equity firm TPG.
· The record-breaking deal for $200 million (Sh21.9 billion) comes amid struggle to compete with M-Pesa dominance in the African market
Airtel Africa has announced through the London Stock Exchange its decision to sell an undisclosed minority stake in its Pan-African Airtel Money business to private equity firm TPG. The record-breaking deal for $200 million (Sh21.9 billion) comes amid struggle to compete with M-Pesa dominance in the African market. TPG is invesment in Airtel Money will come from its investment vehicle The Arise Fund. The investment in Airtel Money will take place in two stages, an initial $150 million and later $50 million.
Raghunath Mandava, CEO of Airtel Africa, in a statement welcomed The ARise Fund as a partner and hoped that the deal will pave way for Airtel Africa to realise the full potential to bank the unbanked across Africa. The cash raised from the deal to be completed in four months will be utilized to reduce debt . The amount will also be used to invest in network and sales infrastructure in the respective operating countries.
Active users of Airtel Money stood at 21 million in the six months ended September 2020 and generated revenues of $548 million (Sh60.1 billion) in the African markets. Total revenue of M-Pesa with 55 million customers, over the same period stood at R8 billion (Sh59.5 billion).
