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(Sharecast News) - The share price of Airtel Money fell on its first day of conditional trading in London with the initial public offering of Airtel Africa's mobile financial services business off to a subdued start.
Airtel Money set the offer price at 196p per share, giving it a market capitalisation of £5.3bn - big enough for inclusion in the FTSE 100. However, after initially hitting 200p early on, the stock had fallen 2.0% to 192.1p by 1215 BST.
Conditional dealings in the shares, which have the ticker AMC, began on Friday, though the full admission to trading (unconditional dealings) wasn't set to begin until 0800 BST on 14 October.
According to Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, Airtel Money is the fifth largest company by market value to float in London over the past three decades, excluding those on the International Main Market.
"Airtel Money's majority shareholder Airtel Africa has made investors big money since its stock market debut in 2019, with a 262% gain in value to £11.2bn and a place in the prestigious FTSE 100. Many people will be hoping for a repeat of this success with the new IPO," Coatsworth said.
In a statement, Airtel Money's chief executive Ian Ferrao said the flotation was a "landmark moment" for the company.
"Our listing in London marks an important new chapter for our business and reflects what we have built across Africa and the significant opportunity ahead [...] The strong support we have received from investors is a vote of confidence in our business model, strategy and the long-term growth potential of African economies."
Airtel Africa shares, meanwhile, had dropped 5.6% to 292.4p, in line with losses seen across the European and US telecom sectors. Dampening sentiment was the news that SpaceX is spending $8bn to buy a nationwide portfolio of low-band, 800MHz spectrum in hopes to turn its Starlink division into a US nationwide wireless carrier.
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