Airtel Money, the mobile money arm of Airtel Africa, has concluded plans to float on the London Stock Exchange in October.

Airtel Money’s chief executive, Ian Ferrao, made the disclosure Wednesday emphasising that the company would announce more details about the float in early October, including the indicative price range and number of shares to be offered, with final pricing to follow later in the month.

Airtel Africa had originally targeted a listing in the first six months of 2026 but delayed it to the second half of the year, blaming unfavourable market conditions as a result of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Several other companies also pushed back planned IPOs amid the market volatility caused by the conflict.

The company is hoping to raise about $800m (£601m) from the initial public offering (IPO) and is targeting a valuation of $8bn to $9bn, which would make it one of London’s largest listings in recent years.

Airtel Money has 53 million monthly active users across 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Uganda, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It operates through a network of branches and kiosks, which enable customers to load money on to their phones, withdraw cash and access other money services, and the company generated revenues of just under $1.4bn in the last financial year.

Airtel Money’s parent company is Airtel Africa, a telecoms provider that is part of the Indian conglomerate Bharti Enterprises, which is ultimately controlled by the billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal.

Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Olayemi Cardoso has estimated that Nigeria lost about three per cent of its gross domestic product to multiple foreign exchange windows.

Mr Cardoso spoke in Abuja on Tuesday while answering questions after the 307th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee.

He put the losses from the fuel subsidy regime at about 2.2 per cent of GDP, meaning the two distortions together cost the country roughly 5.2 per cent of GDP.

The committee cut the benchmark Monetary Policy Rate to 23 per cent from 26.5 per cent, a decision the governor described as an important operational realignment aimed at strengthening monetary policy transmission.

Mr Cardoso compared the cost of the old exchange rate system to the fuel subsidy, which he said was already a staggering amount of money.

The losses that we were making as a result of these multiple exchange rate windows was more. It was 3 per cent of GDP. So between those, you had 5.2 per cent of GDP lost,” he said.

Before the CBN introduced FX reforms in 2023 to unify exchange rates, Nigeria had different channels through which dollars could be bought and sold. Different rates applied to different users and transactions.

Black Market Rates

₦1382 DOLLAR (USD)

₦1860 POUND (GBP)

₦1555 EURO (EUR)

₦1000 DOLLAR (CAD)

₦70 SOUTH AFRICAN RAND (ZAR)

₦370 UAE DIRHAM (AED)

190 YUAN (CNY)

₦100 G.CEDI (GHS)

₦2250 CFA F.(XOF)

₦2250 CFA F.(XAF)

₦850 AUSSIE (AUD)

CBN Exchange Rate

DOLLAR (USD) ₦1327.78

POUND (GBP) ₦1774.31

EURO (EUR) ₦1521.37

SWISS FRANC (CHF) ₦1619.04

JAPANESE YEN (JPN) ₦8.44

CFA FRANC (XOF) ₦2.33

WEST AFRICAN UNIT OF ACCOUNT (WAUA)₦1814.83

CHINESE YUAN (CNY) ₦198.16

SAUDI RIYAL (SAR) ₦353.57

SOUTH AFRICAN RAND (ZAR) ₦81.82