Firm raises stake in Airtel with £57m shares acquisition
A firm, Indian Continent Investment Limited, has increased its stake in Airtel Africa through the acquisition of £57.25m worth of shares.
In a corporate notice filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Thursday, Indian Continent Investment Limited based in Mauritius bought 53,500,000 units of Airtel Africa at £1.07 per unit.
According to the notice, Indian Continent Investment Limited is affiliated with Shravin Bharti Mittal, the Managing Director of Bharti Global Ltd (Bharti family investment arm). Bharti Airtel is the largest shareholder of Airtel Africa.
It was indicated that the deal took place on the London Stock Exchange, where Airtel Africa's shares are also listed, on Monday.
A separate notice showed that Indian Continent Investment increased its shareholding to 12.58 per cent from 11.02 per cent. It now holds 473,071,861 shares of the company indirectly.
Meanwhile, another shareholder, Singapore Telecom International Pte Ltd, has reduced its shareholding to below three per cent from 3.94 per cent. This followed the disposal of part of its shareholding also on Monday.
On August 15, 2023, Airtel Africa announced the cancellation and extinction of all of its deferred shares of $0.50 nominal value each which was approved by shareholders at the annual general meeting of the Company held on July 4, 2023. The cancellation and extinction was sanctioned by the High Court of England and Wales.
The effect of the capital reduction is to create additional distributable reserves which will be available to the company going forward and may be used to facilitate returns to shareholders in the future, whether in the form of dividends, distributions or purchases of the company's shares.
The company confirms that, following the capital reduction, the issued share capital of the company will be 3,758,151,504 ordinary shares of $0.50 nominal value each, carrying one vote each.
