The Rise Fund to invest USD 200 mn in Airtel Africa's mobile money business

Airtel Africa on Thursday announced the signing of an agreement under which The Rise Fund, a global impact investing platform of TPG, will invest 200 million dollars in Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (AMC BV) which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Airtel Africa Plc.

The agreement will close in two stages -- 150 million dollars will be invested at the first close in the upcoming quarter and 50 million dollars will be invested at second close upon further transfers.

"In line with our vision of enhancing financial inclusion, Airtel Africa offers a unique digital mobile financial services platform under the Airtel Money brand. In most of our markets there is limited access to traditional financial institutions and little banking infrastructure with less than half of the population having a bank account across sub-Saharan Africa," said Raghunath Mandava, CEO of Airtel Africa.

"Our markets, therefore, afford substantial market potential for mobile money services to meet the needs of tens of millions of customers in Africa who have little or no access to banking and financial services, and this demand is driving growth," he added.

The transaction values Airtel Africa's mobile money business at 2.65 billion dollars on a cash and debt-free basis. The Rise Fund will hold a minority stake in AMC BV upon completion of the transaction with Airtel Africa continuing to hold the remaining majority stake.

"With this investment in Airtel Africa's mobile money operations, we are excited to expand The Rise Fund's global fintech portfolio and continue to deepen our focus on improving financial inclusion in Africa and around the world," said Yemi Lalude, partner at TPG who leads Africa investing for The Rise Fund.

AMC BV is currently the holding company for several of Airtel Africa's mobile money operations and is now intended to own and operate mobile money businesses across all of Airtel Africa's 14 operating countries.

( With inputs from ANI )