Billionaire Mittal Sees ‘Once-in-a-Lifetime’ Africa Opportunity

Sunil Bharti Mittal, the billionaire founder of Bharti Airtel Ltd., said his company is keen to raise its stake in the Africa unit to 90% to capitalize on the surge in mobile businesses on the continent.

The New Delhi-based company on Wednesday said that it will boost its stake in its UK-listed Airtel Africa Plc. through a $2.9 billion share swap, before a planned initial public offering of the unit’s mobile-money business.