Airtel Africa on Thursday announced that Mastercard would invest $100 million (about Rs 733 crore) in its wholly owned subsidiary Airtel Mobile Commerce BV.

Mastercard would hold a minority stake in AMC BV on completion of the deal, with Airtel Africa continuing to hold the majority stake, an Airtel statement said.

Sources privy to the development said Mastercard would get about a 3.75 per cent stake in the company.

AMC BV is at present the holding company for several of Airtel Africa’s mobile money operations and is intended to own and operate the mobile money businesses across all of Airtel Africa’s 14 operating countries.

The proceeds from the transaction would be used to reduce the group’s debt and invest in network and sales infrastructure in the respective operating countries.