IFC Considers $200Million Debt Investment in Airtel Africa.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is considering providing Airtel Africa with a debt financing facility of up to $200 million.

Some Context: Airtel Africa plc provides telecommunications, data centres, distribution networks, and mobile money services across 14 West, Central, and East African countries. The company intends to use the new funding to support its operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, and Kenya and cover capital expenditure (CAPEX) to modernise the telecom network and refinance its USD-denominated debt. Airtel Africa also secured $194 million in financing in December 2022 from the IFC to fund it in Kenya, Madagascar, DRC, Zambia and Niger.

The bottom line: The African telecom market is highly competitive, even with Airtel Africa's 151.2 million customers across its 14 markets. To meet this challenge, the company recently changed its business model to focus on an asset-light strategy, which includes disposing of its tower infrastructure in some parts of the African market and then leasing it back from the new tower owners to achieve operational and capital efficiency.

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