Airtel Africa receives $200 million to invest in infrastructure

Airtel Africa, a subsidiary of India’s Bharti-Airtel, has received an investment of $200m from Qatar Holdings LLC, an affiliate of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) to power its mobile money operations.

This comes on the heels of another $200m investment in March by TPG ‘s Rise Fund, a firm that works in venture capital with a great focus on social impact and growth. Airtel also received a $100m investment from Mastercard to drive its Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (AMC BV) in April.

AMC BV is an arm of Airtel Africa that serves as a holding firm for the firm’s numerous mobile money operations across 14 nations in Africa.

Airtel’s money division is a leader in Africa’s financial services sector, enabling millions of users to seamlessly process remittances, withdrawals, international transfers, use virtual cards, and even apply for loans.

The new funding will be applied to servicing the firm’s debt and also to expand its network and sales infrastructure across all the countries where it has a presence. 

The fund will be disbursed in two stages, with the first installment of $150m scheduled for release in August and $50m at a yet unspecified date. 

Airtel Africa says that QIA will hold a minority stake in the company while it retains the majority.  However, what’s different in this investment deal is that QIA now has the authority to appoint a director to the board of directors of AMC BV, as well as “certain customary information and minority protection rights.”