Airtel's Africa arm gets $1.25 bn from 6 investors, IPO to follow

This will enable the telecom major to cut its consolidated debt by 8% and reduce its annual interest outgo

Bharti Airtel announced it was getting six marquee investors to put a total of $1.25 billion in its fully-owned subsidiary, Airtel Africa. 

This will be through the issue of new equity, followed soon by an Initial Public Offer (IPO) on the international stock exchange.  

This will enable the telecom major to cut the consolidated debt by eight per cent and reduce its annual interest outgo, estimated by analysts at Rs 10 billion, says ICICI Securities. This will strengthen the company as it takes on its chief rival, Reliance Jio, in the Indian market.   

Understandably, the market gave the stock