Airtel eyes fintech IPO spin off in $10bn boost for London market
British telecommunications giant Airtel is mulling listing its mobile money business on the London Stock Market in what could be one of the largest public debuts on a European exchange in years.
Airtel Money – a digital commerce service that allows users to store money, transfer funds and buy mobile data – is said to be eyeing the City as its top choice for a public listing after previous interest in the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere across Europe.
The fintech is expected to collect up to $2bn (£1.5bn) in its IPO and net a price tag of as much as $10bn, according to Bloomberg, who first reported the news.
Airtel is majority-owned by Indian billionaire Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Enterprises and is Africa’s third-largest wireless carrier. It listed on the London Stock Market in July 2019.
A spin-off listing for its fintech has been in the works following its rapid growth, now boasting over 50m customers.
Payments giant Mastercard holds a stake of just shy of four per cent in the firm following a $100m investment back in April 2021 that valued the business at $2.7bn.
London struggles to attract fintechs
A listing on the London Stock Exchange would offer a major boost after the market has struggled to attract the next generation of tech-native financial talent.
Last year, Klarna snubbed the City opting to list on Wall Street last September.
Wise is also expected to switch its primary listing to New York within the quarter after announcing the plans last year.
“We believe that the addition of a primary US listing would bring a number of strategic and capital markets benefits to Wise and its owners, including greater visibility in the United States, the biggest market opportunity for our products today, and better access to the world’s deepest and most liquid capital market,” the firm said in an update earlier this month.
When Wise revealed plans for the listing change in June 2025, the fintech said it hoped the move would “provide a potential pathway to inclusion in major US indices,” marking a blow to City officials after the payments firm had been speculated an eventual blue-chip.
The Treasury has courted a number of the UK’s fast-growing fintechs in a bid to lure them onto the London market.
But the founder of $75bn titan Revolut Nik Storonsky last week poured cold water on any hopes, stating the firm would not make its public debut until at least 2028.