ONE of Africa’s fastest- growing telecom companies, Celtel, which has Lord Prior, the Tory grandee, on its board, is preparing a $2 billion (£1.1 billion) flotation on the London stock market.

Celtel, which is based in the Netherlands, has appointed Goldman Sachs and Citibank to advise on the listing, which the board has now formally approved. The listing could take place in the first quarter of next year. A successful flotion would value the stake of Mo Ibrahim, the founding chairman, at about $400m.

Ibrahim, a Sudanese entrepreneur, is a former technical director of BT Cellnet, and is thought to hold his 23% holding in a series of family trusts. Staff own a further 11%.

Telecom analysts say that, despite the economic risks, Africa’s mobile market has huge growth potential. In the past five years it has grown by 1,000%, but compared with the world average of 19%, penetration is running at just over 2%.

Celtel, Africa’s third-largest mobile-phone company, intends to issue about 25% of its shares. The firm, which had revenues of $446m last year, has 14 operations covering 12 African countries. These include Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Tanzania. The flotation is expected to make a number of the group’s African workers paper millionaires.

Major external shareholders include CDC Capital Partners and WorldTel Africa.

Ibrahim has assembled a board of big business names. Prior is a former chairman of GEC and served as a minister in Lady Thatcher’s government. Other directors include Sir Alan Rudge, a former deputy chief executive of BT, and Salim Salim, a former prime minister of Tanzania.

The group’s chief executive is Martens Pieters and the finance director is David Wilson, who previously worked at BT. Celtel is believed to have recently held a beauty parade of advisers to prepare for the float.

The proceeds from the listing will help Ibrahim expand his operations.

Meanwhile, the on-off float of Lazard appears to be on again. Bruce Wasserstein hopes to file with US regulators next month for a possible $3bn IPO.