AFRICA – American financial service corporation Mastercard Inc will invest US$100 million in Airtel Africa’s mobile money operations valuing the business at US$2.64 billion, the London-listed company said in a press release to Reuters.
Mastercard will hold a minority stake in Airtel Mobile Commerce, in line with Airtel Africa’s plan to monetise the mobile money business by selling up to a 25 per cent stake in the unit, the company said.
In March 2021, TPG-owned The Rise Fund announced that they will invest US$200 million in Airtel Mobile Commerce (AMC) BV, the mobile money business of Airtel’s Africa unit, a transaction is part of Airtel’s strategic asset monetization plan.
The investment in AMC BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Africa unit, valued the company at US$2.65 billion on a cash and debt-free basis. Proceeds from the stake sale will be used to slash Airtel’s debt, and invest in developing network and infrastructure across 14 countries in the region.
“Our markets afford substantial potential for mobile money services to meet the needs of the tens of millions of customers in Africa who have little or no access to banking and financial services,” said Raghunath Mandava, chief executive, Airtel Africa.
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