This recent development turned the telecom company into the bourse’s third largest stock by market value.
Some 100,000 of the company's shares traded at the Tuesday's debut, helping the main stock index recover from a seven-week low after their overall shares climbed 10% from their listing price of ₦363 after the float went live.
The company which is owned 68.3% by India’s Bharti Airtel offered shares in its African unit two weeks ago via a London IPO and said it would dual-list in Nigeria, its biggest market in Africa.
It operates across 14 African countries and has plans to list last week but the bourse postponed the cross-border listing in order to allow the telecoms firm to meet its listing requirements.
The listing reportedly came up after its major rival, South Africa's MTN listed its Nigerian unit in Lagos, May 2019 in a $6.5 billion floatation making it the second largest stock on the bourse by market value.
It also became the second company to list in London and Lagos following an IPO by oil firm Seplat.
The local bourse has said Airtel shares registered in Great Britain may be moved from the London market to Nigeria subject to approval by the custodians in London and foreign exchange rules in Nigeria.
However Airtel shares registered in Nigeria cannot be moved to London, it said.
According to sources, the listing of its Africa subsidiary on the London Stock Exchange were aimed at raising money to reduce its debt.
Bharti Airtel had announced the plans to take its Africa subsidiary public in February last year, and in October it completed an initial round of pre-IPO funding of $1.25 billion by issuing 841,908,798 shares to entities affiliated with the Warburg Pincus Parties, Temasek Holdings Private Limited, Singapore Telecommunications Limited, and SoftBank Group International.
Qatar Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund of the state of Qatar, said in January it would invest $200 million in the African arm.
Credit: Nairaland.com
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