Airtel Money is worth USD 7 billion at its IPO price, and starts trading in London on 14th October

Airtel Money set the price of its London IPO at £1.96 a share on October 1, valuing the mobile money business at £5.3 billion ($7 billion, about KES 910 billion). Existing shareholders are selling 270 million shares at that price, worth about $703 million. Airtel Money itself will not receive any of the proceeds. Trading starts at 8am London time on October 14 (10am in Nairobi), with conditional dealings expected from October 9, according to Airtel Africa's announcement.

When Airtel Money confirmed its listing plan on September 23, it said the final price would come in mid-October. It fixed the price a week later instead. Institutions and UK retail investors both pay £1.96, with no range to bid inside. Samuel Kerr of Mergermarket told Reuters it was "clearly a conservative structure." Reports before pricing had put the valuation at $8–9 billion and the raise at about $800 million, which would have been London's biggest IPO in five years. At $703 million it is still London's largest since Fermi Inc.'s dual listing in September 2025, according to Dealogic data cited by Reuters.

The announcement doesn't name the sellers. Airtel Africa, which owns 77.85% of Airtel Money, is out of the main offer and would sell only through a 27-million-share over-allotment option, which would lift the deal to about $770 million. The register shows four other holders: the Rise Fund (8.05%), Qatar Holding (8.05%), Mastercard (4.02%) and Chimetech (1.96%). They bought in during 2021 for a combined $550 million. Those investments were made at a $2.65 billion company valuation, and the IPO prices Airtel Money at about 2.6 times that level.

The International Finance Corporation has agreed to buy up to £67.2 million ($90 million) of the shares as a cornerstone investor. About 16.5% of Airtel Money will be in public hands after listing, or about 17.5% if the over-allotment is used in full.

Two of those 2021 investors also hold put options. The Rise Fund and Mastercard can sell their shares to Airtel Africa at fair value if no IPO happens within four years. That window ran from July 2021 to July 2025, and in August 2025 Airtel Africa agreed to defer it by 12 months. Airtel Africa carried a $515 million liability for the options at March 31, 2026. At the IPO valuation, the two investors' combined 12.07% is worth about $845 million, against the $300 million they put in.

Across 13 markets, Airtel Money reported revenue of $1.346 billion for the year to March 31, 2026, with an EBITDA margin of about 50%, according to its listing notice. At a $7 billion valuation, it is being priced at about 5.2 times its latest annual revenue.

In Kenya, Airtel Money held 11.1% of the 54.0 million mobile money subscriptions at June 30, 2026, up from 9.1% a year earlier, according to the Communications Authority. M-Pesa held 88.8%. That works out to about 6 million Airtel Money subscriptions in Kenya. Retail investors in Kenya cannot apply for shares in the offer. The retail tranche is limited to people resident and physically present in the UK. It runs through RetailBook and its partner brokers, has a £250 minimum (about KES 43,000) and closes at 5pm London time on October 8, which is 7pm in Nairobi. Institutional orders close at 2pm that day. After October 14, a Kenyan investor can buy only on the market, in pounds, through a broker with access to London.

About 16.5% of Airtel Money's shares will be in public hands when trading begins. The company and its existing shareholders, Airtel Africa included, are subject to 180-day lock-ups after admission, which run to about April 12, 2027, with exceptions. Directors are locked up for 365 days. That limits how much of the remaining shareholding can reach the market in the first six months.