Airtel Africa, has confirmed that it has completed the early repayment of its c.$505m 5.125% Guaranteed Senior Notes, originally due in March 2023, using cash balances available at Group level.
Settlement includes all outstanding accrued interest up to the Redemption date of 7 March 2022. One-off costs of c.$17.6m for the applicable premium will be recorded within finance costs, while the Group will save an aggregate of c.$26.5m future interest payments from early redemption
Since the time of the IPO in June 2019, Airtel Africa has successfully pursued a strategy of strengthening its balance sheet through both deleveraging. and reducing US dollar debt exposure. Over this period the Group has reduced its USD HoldCo debt by c.$1.7bn and improved its leverage ratio to 1.4x net debt to underlying EBITDA at December 2021. Following this early repayment of Senior Notes, the Group has $1bn of bonds remaining at HoldCo level, due in May 2024.