Bharti Airtel’s Africa business arm on Monday announced the appointment of eight global banks, including JP Morgan, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, to work on its initial public offer plan.

“Airtel Africa on Monday announced the appointment of global banks for an intended IPO on an international stock exchange. The banks appointed are JP Morgan, Citigroup, BofA Merrill Lynch, Absa Group Limited, Barclays Bank PLC, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs International and Standard Bank Group,” Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

Airtel Africa operates in 14 countries across Africa where it offers 2G, 3G and 4G mobile services and mobile commerce through “Airtel Money”.

The development comes after the recent subscription of shares in Airtel Africa by six leading global investors, including Warburg Pincus, Temasek, Singtel and SoftBank Group International, for an aggregate consideration of $1.25 billion.

The company plans to utilise this fund to lower debt of its Africa unit which stands at around $5 billion.

The Telegraph

Earlier this month, Airtel Africa also announced its newly constituted board of directors that includes representatives from Bharti Airtel and the investors.

“The new board of directors brings a wealth of industry and governance experience to further drive the Airtel Africa business,” Airtel said.

Bharti Airtel reported a 3.6 per cent decline in its India revenues year-on-year, while the Africa revenues rose 10.8 per cent.

Revenues from the African business rose to Rs 5,647.2 crore during the September quarter from Rs 5,203 crore in the same period of the previous year.