Boost for London Stock Exchange as new firm launches biggest IPO in five years

The London Stock Exchange received a welcome boost on Friday with its newest addition, Airtel Money, expecting to sell more than £500m worth of shares in what is the City’s biggest listing in five years.

One of Africa’s largest fintech platforms, Airtel Money listed its shares at £1.96 each, giving the company a valuation of around £5.3bn.

For context, that makes it bigger by current market capitalisation size than the likes of Easyjet, defence firm Babcock International or the owner of pubs and Premier Inn hotels, Whitbread plc.

The initial offer gives existing minority shareholders the chance to sell their holdings, meaning no new money is raised for the firm. It will trade openly from next week.

Should the share sale option be taken up in full, in excess of £580m worth of shares will swap hands – potentially up to 11 per cent of the total size of the company. The share price briefly hit £2 in the opening hour before reverting to the opening price.

Ian Ferrao, Airtel Money CEO, said: “We see this listing as a beginning, not a destination.”

The IPO is London’s biggest since the likes of Deliveroo and Wise went public – since then, the former has been delisted after a buyout and the latter has switched its primary listing to the US. London has struggled to attract similarly huge new stock market listings in the past couple of years, with the US in particular attracting more tech firms due to perceived higher valuations and deeper investor pockets.

Airtel Money, whose parent firm is Airtel Africa, have said they expect to be “eligible for inclusion” in the FTSE indices; assuming all proceeds as normal, its size will make it a FTSE 100 member.

“Mobile payments firm Airtel Money is set to make its debut on the LSE today. This is expected to be the largest London IPO since 2021, and the company is valued at £5.3bn, which is big enough for it to be included in the FTSE 100,” said XTB’s research director, Kathleen Brooks.

“It is hoping to raise £529m from the listing. This will be a key test for the London market, and hopes are high that this will revitalise London’s position as a hub for corporate listings. The company will trade freely from next week, but initial indications look like demand for Airtel Money is strong.”

The firm is trading under the stock ticker AMC, reflecting its official name Airtel Mobile Commerce.

A successful launch would be a huge win for the LSE, after another slew of firms either moved listings or were bought by private equity across 2026.

Easyjet, which is around the same size as Airtel Money, will leave the stock market next year after being bought by private equity firm Apollo, while asset manager Schroders has similarly been bought up.

But there could be further positive news ahead for the LSE, with payments firm Zilch expected to make a £1.5bn listing late next year.