Airtel to setback IPO of its $8 billion Africa business: Report

 According to a report by BloombergQuint, the planned initial public offering of its Africa unit will be delayed by Bharti Airtel Ltd due to the turmoil in emerging-market stocks, people with knowledge of the matter said. The company, which was originally aiming to list the unit in London by March, has pushed back the share sale by about half a year, according to the people, the report said.

The second biggest wireless carrier in India, plans to seek an enterprise value of about $8 billion for the Africa business, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private—BloombergQuint reports.

In August, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., which owns a stake in Bharti’s parent company noted that the listing was slated for the first quarter of next year. According to Bloomberg’s report, the equity rout has derailed IPOs around the world, with companies from Spanish oil refiner Cepsa to U.S. filmmaker STX Entertainment scrapping or postponing their offerings.

Also, the report highlighted that Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel is seeking the listing after spending heavily to acquire spectrum in India and defend its position in the country against disruptive upstart Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. It has operations in 14 African markets including Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria and Ghana, according to its latest annual report.

As reported by BloombergQuint, no final decisions have been made, and plans for the offering could change, the people said. A representative for Bharti said preparations for the Africa unit IPO are proceeding according to plan and there have been no changes. The company remains “very confident” about the listing process, the representative said.

Bharti had stated last week that its African unit will be receiving USD 1.25 billion. The company stated that this boost will happen with the help of six global investors, including Warburg Pincus, Temasek, Singtel and SoftBank Group International, who have agreed to invest $1.25 billion through a primary equity issuance.