Indian billionaire Sunil Mittal closes $2.9 billion swap, locking in 79 percent of Airtel Africa

Bharti Airtel has settled the share swap it first unveiled in May. The Indian carrier founded by Sunil Bharti Mittal completed the transfer of about 595.2 million Airtel Africa shares, a 16.35 percent block, on June 22, locking its effective stake in the London-listed unit at roughly 79 percent.

What was an intention in May is now done. When Bharti Airtel's board backed the roughly $2.9 billion share swap two months ago, the deal was still a plan. The June 22 settlement makes it final, and the numbers are now fixed: Bharti's voting rights rose to 79.22 percent, while Indian Continent Investment Limited, the Mauritius-based promoter vehicle controlled by the Mittal family, walked away with no direct Airtel Africa holding at all. The change was notified to Airtel Africa on June 24.

The move is a step toward a bigger goal. Mittal has said he wants to push the holding to 90 percent before a planned London listing of Airtel Money, the group's mobile money arm, in a deal that could value the unit at up to $10 billion.

The structure is the point. No cash changed hands and Bharti Airtel took on no new debt. The company instead issued about 146.8 million new shares to ICIL in exchange for the African stock, leaving the promoter vehicle with around 3.3 percent of the Indian parent and nothing left directly in Airtel Africa.

That design let Mittal absorb a large block of a high-growth asset without the dilution or balance-sheet strain a leveraged buy-up would have caused. The swap is an internal restructuring, so it does not touch the shares available to public investors in London or Lagos, and the free float stays intact ahead of the fintech listing. The exchange worked out to roughly four Airtel Africa shares for each new Bharti Airtel share issued.

The endgame is fintech. Airtel Money has consistently grown faster than the core telecom business, and a London float could raise between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, ranking among the larger recent listings on a European exchange. Citigroup is advising, with the deal expected in the second half of 2026.

The African unit gives Mittal plenty to build on. Airtel Africa operates across 14 markets with about 169 million subscribers, spanning mobile data, voice and a fast-growing payments network now run by chief executive Sunil Taldar. Bloomberg estimates the Mittal family fortune at more than $24.5 billion, much of it tied to the Bharti telecom empire. Consolidating Africa is how Mittal intends to grow it.