One of India’s largest telecom provider is trying to launch its IPO in Tanzania — But Tanzanian Government disapproves

• Bharti Airtel, one of India’s leading telecom operators, was looking to launch the IPO of its African unit, Airtel Africa
  
  
• In the process of claiming its stake in Airtel’s unit, Government of Tanzania has disapproved Airtel’s Africa IPO.
  
  
• The Tanzanian government accused Airtel Africa for not involving the treasury in the process of launching its IPO.
  
  
• Although Bharti Airtel has the control of its unit in Tanzania, the ruling body still wanted IPO to be treated as a joint venture.
  

All the ‘plans and preparation’ of Airtel’s Africa IPO by one of India’s largest telecom operators, Bharti Airtel Limited might be in vain since Tanzanian Government has declined to accept the proposed IPO by the company.

The Government of Tanzania — in a letter originally written in Swahili — have objected to any affiliate consultations of Airtel Tanzania without keeping the government in the loop. It owns 40% stake in Airtel Tanzania, while the Bharti Airtel has majority stake with 60% ownership.

Despite the parent company possessing the control over the unit, the ruling body wanted the IPO procedure to be treated as joint venture.

So, the fate of the negotiation depends on additional clarification between Bharti Airtel and the Tanzanian government.

The development will have a direct impact on the Airtel Africa IPO which claimed to be on track earlier this week. The parent company Bharti Airtel is already struggling to pay a debt of $5 billion (₹363.5 billion) owing to the ongoing price war in Indian telecom industry invoked by Mukesh Ambani’s Jio in 2017.

The new development is probably going to instigate new struggles for Bharti Airtel, which was yet to disclose the the date of Airtel Africa IPO.

Tanzanian Government and Bharti Airtel had being going through a turmoil since 2017 ever since the governing body introduced a modus operandi to look into Airtel’s agreement to buy Kuwaiti telecom firm, Zain in Tanzania.