Airtel Africa falls in London trading debut after raising $750 million

Airtel Africa sale is among the largest IPOs announced in 2019 in London.

Bharti Airtel Ltd.’s Africa unit fell in its London trading debut after raising about $750 million in an initial public offering to help the India-based wireless operator pare debt.

Airtel Africa Ltd. dropped 13% to 70 pence per share as of 8.13am in London, from an offer price of 80 pence a share, at the low end of the company’s range. The offer gave Airtel Africa a market capitalisation of about 3.1 billion pounds ($3.93 billion), according to a statement from the company on Friday.

The soft trading debut for the African carrier, the continent’s second-largest by subscribers, comes as parent Bharti