Shares of Airtel Money opened flat before rising as much as 2% in their London debut on Friday, giving the city’s subdued listings market a steady start from one of its biggest IPOs in years. The stock traded at £2 in early dealings, above its IPO price of £1.96, after a heavily oversubscribed offer that valued the Africa-focused mobile money business at about $7 billion.
The IPO raised about $703 million through the sale of 270 million shares by existing shareholders. The offer was priced at £1.96 per share, implying a market cap of £5.3 billion, or about $7 billion. The company had earlier targeted a richer valuation, making the final pricing a little more conservative than initial expectations.
