(Adds graphic, further background, updates trading price)
By Abhinav Ramnarayan
LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) - Airtel Africa AAF.L shares
fell as much as 15% on Friday after its London stock market
debut, hitting a low of 67 pence ($0.85) against an initial
public offering price of 80 pence.
It was trading at 70.5 pence at 09.15 GMT.
The company, a unit of India's Bharti Airtel Ltd BRTI.NS ,
set a range of 80 to 100 pence per share last week for its IPO,
before pricing at the bottom of the spread.
The final offer comprised 744 million new shares, setting
the deal size at 595 million pounds and the initial market
capitalisation at about 3.1 billion pounds at issue, the company
said.
"It does show the market is tricky," said a person close to
the transaction. "(But) this is day one."
Parent Bharti Airtel also dipped after its listing before
its market capitalisation increased substantially, he said.
Global IPO volumes are down 30% year-to-date at $62.8
billion, according to Refinitiv data, while the European figure
is at its lowest level since 2012, as investors become
increasingly picky on a shaky outlook for the global economy.
After listing in Frankfurt and Stockholm, shares in
Volkswagen's VOWG_p.DE truck unit Traton 8TRA.DE opened at
27 euros ($30.75) before edging down to 26.47 euros on their
first day.
Other market listings have also struggled, Uber Technologies
Inc UBER.N in the United States dropped after its debut in May
and the shares are only now trading near their IPO price.
Payments and foreign exchange company Finablr FINF.L ,
which is based in the United Arab Emirates, slipped 5% on its
debut and its shares remain below the IPO price.
Airtel Africa operates in a sector that has been among the
worst performers in Europe in recent years. Telecoms firms have
been plagued by tough competition, unfavourable regulations,
slowing growth and rising costs of network upgrades.
Telecoms .SXKP is the only European sector to be in the
red for the year so far, while the benchmark STOXX 600 .STOXX
index has rallied more than 13%. In the second quarter, the
sector has fallen about 3%.
($1 = 0.7888 pounds)
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European telecoms https://tmsnrt.rs/2Yf3WQm
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