Mastercard invest $100 million in Airtel Africa's mobile money business
- Mastercard has purchased a minority stake in Airtel mobile business after paying $100 million for the shares
- The between the telecommunications company and payment giant followed that of The Rise Fund
- Airtel mobile business is giving a minority stake out in exchange for capital, and more deals are expected to happen
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Mastercard has acquired a minority stake in Airtel Mobile Commerce BV, the mobile money transfer company of Airtel Africa. The American company joined The Rise Fund to take up shares at the Bharti Airtel subsidiary.
Mastercard invested $100 million in exchange for shares which Airtel mobile money business has been offering prospective investors in line with its new strategy. Part of the deal includes a commercial agreement.
It was learnt from a statement released on Thursday, April 1, 2021, that a commercial framework was included in the deal, which will see both companies incorporate their services.
The share purchase deal between Airtel and the payment giant was triggered by Airtel Africa's strategy to source funds with its shares before going ahead with its planned initial public offering slated to happen between 2021 and 2024.
The first company to take advantage of this new operational direction was The Rise Fund, which invested $200 million in the mobile money, which is expected to be valued at $2.65 billion after the funding rounds.
Source: Getty Images
Raghunath Mandava, the chief executive officer of Airtel Africa, said:
“With today’s (Thursday) announcement, we are pleased to welcome Mastercard as an investor in our mobile money business, joining The Rise Fund which we announced two weeks ago.
“This is a continuation of our strategy to increase the minority shareholding in our mobile money business with the further intention to list this business within four years."
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that serial investor, Victor Asemota, commented on reasons deposit money banks keep taking money from the poor to give to the rich.
The tech expert said the rich do more banking, which makes them more profitable to the lenders. He explained that high networth individuals are living on the deposit of the poor.
Source: Legit.ng
