Bharti Airtel share price: What CLSA says on Airtel Money IPO; sees 27% upside

CLSA has maintained 'Outperform' on Bharti Airtel Ltd in its latest note, with a target price of Rs 2,310 per share, hinting at a potential 27 per cent upside. The foreign brokerage noted that the initial public offer (IPO) for Airtel Money, Bharti Airtel’s Africa mobile money business, is scheduled for the second half of 2026. It said Airtel Money business contributes 20 per cent of the Africa region and Africa accounts for 25 per cent of Bharti Airtel’s consolidated operations.

In its valuations for Bharti Airtel, the foreign brokerage valued Bharti’s 62 per cent stake in Africa at market cap, which is 6 per cent of it target Rs 2,310 and did not separately value Airtel Money. It, however, noted that Bharti’s increase in Africa shareholding to 78 per cent is underway. 

On the Airtel Money IPO, CLSA said Airtel Money could raise $1.5-2 billion at a potential valuation of $10 billion,up four fold from 2021, implying 60 per cent of Airtel Africa’s market cap. 

Airtel Money’s FY26 revenue was up 36 per cent YoY at $1.4 billion. Ebitda increased 31 per cent YoY to $689 million for the same period.

CLSA said Airtel Money's penetration is low at 29 per cent of Airtel Africa’s own mobile subscribers of 18.4 crore as Nigeria has yet to ramp up. The strong growth will likely continue, it said.

"Management’s focus for Airtel Money is to ramp up subscribers and increase gross transaction values (GTV). In FY26,Airtel’s mobile money subscribers rose21 per cent YoY to 5.4 crore, while transaction value was up 44 per cent YoY (in reported currency),with annualised transaction value of $215 billion. The Airtel Money business is also profitable, with FY26 margin of 50.8 per cent (against Africa operations margin of 49.3 per cent),driving mobile money business Ebitda up 31 per cent YoY to $689 million," CLSA said.

CLSA said Airtel’s biggest market, Nigeria, has yet to ramp up mobile money with only 2.7 million subscribers. Hence, strong growth (31-36 per cent YoY in FY26) will likely continue, it said.