Airtel Africa Plc has agreed with minority shareholders of its mobile money unit, Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (AMC BV), to delay exercising the right to sell off their shares in the company by 12 more months, in a deal that will cost the telco $25 million in additional costs per year.

The London-Stock Exchange-listed telco says it has agreed with The Rise Fund and Mastercard to defer the exercisable date of their put options under their respective agreements by 12 months to allow the group finalise on listing the mobile money subsidiary on the stock exchange through an initial public offering (IPO) planned for early 2026.

The initial agreements effectively locked in minority investors for a period of four years from July 2021 to July 2025, within which Airtel Africa aimed to explore the potential listing of the mobile money business within this period (four years).“Airtel Africa Plc….announces that it and its affiliates have agreed with The Rise Fund, the impact investment platform of TPG, and Mastercard, both minority shareholders in Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (Airtel Money), to defer the exercisable date of their put options under their respective agreements by 12 months,” the company said in a statement dated August, 1 2025.“These put options allow them to sell their shares in Airtel Money to Airtel Africa or its affiliates under the existing option deeds. All other material financial terms of the agreements remain unchanged.”A put option is a financial contract that gives the holder the right, but not the obligation, to sell the underlying assets at a specific price by a certain expiration date.

It is a strategy usually used by investors who believe the price of the asset will fall to make a gain from the share sale or as a form of insurance to protect an existing portfolio.

“Effective July 2025, the primary amendment relates to retention revenue, currently classified as “Others” within the mobile money segment, which will be gradually phased out by March 2027,” the group says.“Furthermore, the revised agreements will result in an annualised cost increase of approximately $25million for the mobile money segment based on current year volumes.”The group notes that the impact arising from the revision of these lock-in agreement will occur in phases, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA)—a measure of company’s operating profitability— for the mobile money segment being impacted by $11 million in the second quarter of next year.“As these are intra-group arrangements, they will have no impact on the consolidated revenue, EBITDA or growth outlook for the Group,” the group explained.

Airtel Africa made a net profit of $376million in the six months to September 30 2025 as compared to $79 million in the prior period.

Airtel’s mobile money subsidiary, AMC BV, is 77.89 percent controlled by Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV, while minority shareholders own 22.1 percent, the stakes they bought from Airtel Africa in 2021.

These minority shareholders are The Rise Fund (8.05 percent) Qatar Holding Llc (8.05 percent), Mastercard (4.02 percent) and Chimetech Holding Ltd (1.96 percent).

These firms collectively invested over $550 million for stakes in AMC BV, which is the holding company for Airtel Africa’s mobile money operations across 14 African countries.

The initial agreements effectively locked in these investors for a period of four years from July 2021 to July 2025, within which Airtel Africa aimed to explore the potential listing of the mobile money business within this period (four years).

Under the terms of the transaction with the four minority shareholders, the two minority investors (The Rise Fund and Mastercard) have the option to sell their shares in AMC BV to Airtel Africa or its affiliates in very limited circumstances. These include in a case where there is no IPO in AMC BV within four years of first close, or if there are changes of control without prior approval by the minority shareholders.

This sale of the shares would be made to provide liquidity to the minority investors and would be at fair market value, determined by a mutually agreed merchant bank using an agreed internationally accepted valuation methodology.

The lock-in agreements were put in place following a series of investments in Airtel's mobile money arm starting in 2021.

These deals feature "put options" that give investors the right to sell their shares back to Airtel Africa under certain conditions.

The put options function as a lock-in agreement, providing minority investors with an exit plan should a public listing fail to materialize within an agreed-upon timeframe.

The funding, totaling $550 million by the minority investors, was part of Airtel Africa's strategy to monetise its mobile money business and reduce debt.

The investments valued the mobile money business at about $2.65 billion.

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