Airtel Africa secured a key legal authorisation from a UK court for a capital reduction aimed at beefing up its distributable reserves for future shareholder returns, the London-based company announced Wednesday.
The approval sets Africa’s second-biggest mobile operator on the last rung of the process, having cleared the hurdle of winning shareholders’ support for the move at its annual general meeting last week.
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The capital reduction entails cancelling Airtel Africa’s capital redemption reserve to boost distributable reserves, which are vital to the corporation’s prospects of delivering future rewards to shareholders.
That can be anything from dividends to distributions and buybacks of its own shares.
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A capital redemption reserve holds the cash generated in the course of repurchasing a company’s shares and sometimes also what it earns from issuing new shares.
In the financial year ended 31 March 2026, the wireless carrier repurchased 26.2 million by way of a share buyback programme, spending $100 million.
It initiated another programme in May, which empowered Barclays Capital Securities Limited to repurchase 1 per cent of its issued share capital, which is up to $60 million of ordinary shares (and not less than $50 million) on its behalf.
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PREMIUM TIMES’ estimate of the potential number of shares to be bought back from the transaction, using Airtel’s issued shares as of the end of the last financial year, is equivalent to 36.55 million shares.
“The order of the High Court confirming the Capital Reduction (the “Court Order”), and the statement of capital approved by the High Court in connection with the same, have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies,” said the company in the regulatory filing announcing the decision of the High Court of England and Wales.
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“The Capital Reduction will become effective upon the registration of the Court Order and the statement of capital by the Registrar of Companies.”
Airtel Africa expects the move will have no implications for the rights applicable to its shares and for its issued share capital.
Financial Times reported earlier on Wednesday that the telecoms services provider is enlisting new investment banks to join Citi to underwrite the IPO of its mobile money business, which could be valued in the neighbourhood of $10 billion.
The Rise Fund, Qatar Investment Authority, Mastercard and Abu Dhabi-based Chimera Investment LLC already hold minority equity interests in the telco.
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