Airtel Africa constitutes new board post equity allotment to six investors

Airtel Africa, a subsidiary of telecom major Bharti Airtel, Friday announced the appointment of its new board of directors, close on the heels of the $1.25 billion primary equity issuance to prominent global investors and ahead of an intended public offering.

"The constitution of the company board follows recent successful primary equity issuance of $1.25 billion to six leading global investors comprising of Warburg Pincus, Temasek, Singtel, SoftBank Group International and others," the company said in a statement.

The board of Airtel Africa -- which is the holding company of over a dozen African operating companies -- has representatives from Airtel and the investors, it said.

It includes Sunil Bharti Mittal, his son Shravin Bharti Mittal, Raghunath Mandava, Akhil Gupta, Vishal Mahadevia, Alok Sama, Arthur Lang, and Richard Gubbins.

Airtel Africa's operations span Nigeria, Chad, Congo B, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Niger, Kenya, Malawi, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Rwanda.

The Tanzanian government has reportedly raised objection to the ensuing IPO, asserting its rights with regard to company's unit in Tanzania, where it holds 40 per cent stake.

When contacted, an Airtel spokesperson said, "It is to be noted, the shareholding of Airtel Tanzania is and will continue to be held between Government of Tanzania (40 per cent) and Bharti Airtel Tanzania BV (60 per cent). There has been no change in the shareholding of either Airtel Tanzania or Bharti Airtel Tanzania BV and the control of Airtel Tanzania will continue to be exercised by Airtel as earlier."

The company is in a dialogue with the Government of Tanzania for clarifications, the spokesperson added.

"Airtel has communicated to the Tanzania Regulator on 24 October, the intent to undertake an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on an International Stock Exchange for Airtel Africa Ltd...This includes as an intermediate step, the completion of a pre-IPO primary equity round with six major global investors," the spokesperson said, responding to an e-mail questionnaire.

Airtel has not sold any of its existing shares and will continue to control the operations in Africa, the spokesperson said, adding that funding by investors will be used to pay off Airtel Africa debt, enable expansion of network coverage, and expansion of mobile money operations across 14 countries including Tanzania.

Meanwhile, in a separate statement, the company said the equity allotment to the global investors by Airtel Africa Limited (a UK incorporated company) has now been completed, following the receipt of full issue proceeds.

Airtel Africa has been experiencing healthy revenue growth in voice and data services and had posted strong performance in its Airtel Money business. The financial showing continues to improve, having turned positive in terms of net profit and operating free cash flow.

"The newly constituted Board together brings extensive experience across industry verticals including Telecom and ICT (information and communication technologies), financial markets as well as in technology, software development and consultancy.

"Additionally, the combined strength of the Board of Directors also brings wealth of industry and governance experience to further drive Airtel Africa business," the company said.

During the just ended quarter, Africa revenues grew by 10.8 per cent year on year in constant currency terms, led by strong growth in data and Airtel money transaction value. The revenue from Africa business rose to Rs 56.47 billion during September quarter from Rs 52.03 billion in the same period of the previous year.