Overview:
In 2020, ALN was awarded Capital Deal of the Year at the IFLR1000 Africa Awards for its work advising Airtel Africa on its initial public offering deal, a USD 1.25 billion investment in the newly formed holding company by six leading global investors, including global private equity firm, Warburg Pincus; Japanese multinational, Softbank; Singapore investment company, Temasek; and Singtel, Asia’s leading communications group.
ALN Kenya acted as the lead Africa legal adviser and worked alongside ALN partner firms in seven other African nations and ten additional firms, to coordinate transactional, regulatory (telecom and mobile money) and competition advice across 14 jurisdictions on the continent. Following the pre-IPO investment we acted for Bharti Airtel International in connection with their initial public offering of shares on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges, including leading and coordinating the drafting and preparation of the regulatory element of the prospectus for the IPO.
“The deal was complex as it involved different stages with highly sophisticated investors and stock exchanges. The deal also involved multiple African jurisdictions and we were able to provide the client with a ‘one-stop-shop’ by coordinating the due diligence exercise, regulatory and competition advice under tight deadlines,” says ALN Director Roddy McKean who led the team advising on the deal.
Airtel Africa is one of the largest telecom operators in Africa, with operations in 15 countries and a customer base of 91 million. ALN’s alliance of the continent’s most respected firms was able to service the client and work with international counsel (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer) by drawing on the local expertise of its member firms to provide seamless legal, advisory and transactional services while working closely with the client’s African regulatory team to provide effective solutions.
