A firm, Indian Continent Investment Limited has acquired £57.25m worth of shares to strengthen its ownership position in Airtel Africa.
The Punch reported that the Mauritius-based Indian Continent Investment Limited purchased 53,500,000 Airtel Africa units at a cost of £1.07 per unit, according to a corporate notice it filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Thursday.
The notice states that the managing director of Bharti Global Ltd., Shravin Bharti Mittal, the Bharti family’s investment arm, is connected to Indian Continent Investment Limited. The majority stakeholder in Airtel Africa is Bharti Airtel.
According to reports, the transaction happened on Monday on the London Stock Exchange, where Airtel Africa’s shares are also listed.
Indian Continent Investment raised its stake to 12.58 percent from 11.02 percent, according to a separate notification. Currently, it indirectly owns 473,071,861 shares of the business.
In the meantime, Singapore Telecom International Pte Ltd, another stakeholder, has decreased its stake from 3.94 percent to less than three percent. This came after a portion of its stock was sold on Monday as well.
All of Airtel Africa’s deferred shares, which had a nominal value of $0.50 apiece and were authorized by shareholders at the company’s July 4, 2023, annual general meeting, were canceled and extinction was announced on August 15, 2023. The High Court of England and Wales approved the cancellation and extinction.
As a result of the capital decrease, the company will have more distributable reserves available to it in the future. These reserves may be utilized to support future returns to shareholders in the form of dividends, distributions, or share acquisitions.
The corporation affirms that 3,758,151,504 common shares with a nominal value of $0.50 each and one vote each will be the issued share capital of the business after the capital reduction.
