Airtel Africa Plc (NGX: AIRTELAFRI) has announced the completion of the first phase of the Airtel Money minority investment transaction with Qatar Holding LLC, an affiliate of the Qatar Investment Authority (‘QIA’), previously announced by the Group on 30 July 2021.
Having met the stipulated conditions for the first phase of the transaction, QIA has now invested $150 million in a secondary purchase of shares in AMC BV from a subsidiary of Airtel Africa, with a further US$50m to be invested at second close upon further transfers of mobile money operations into AMC BV.
This is according to a corporate action notification published by Airtel Africa Plc on the Nigerian Exchange.
QIA is now entitled to appoint a director to the board of AMC BV under the agreement.
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Airtel Africa has received a total $375 million from secondary sale transactions from three investors – QIA, TPG and Mastercard. The balance of $125 million from the three investors will be received upon completion of the second close according to Airtel. This will bring the total proceeds from minority stake sales in Airtel Money to a total of $500m.
The telecommunications giant said the money will be “used to reduce Group debt and invest in network and sales infrastructure in the respective operating countries.”
The equity price of Airtel Africa Plc closed at N750 per share on Thursday. Year-to-date the share price is down by 11.95%.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.