By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Pan Africa lender Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) on Thursday said it will divest 20 percent worth N493.4 million shares of the bank to South Africa’s Nedbank Group Limited, ETI said in a statement.
According to the pan African lender, to conclude the deal, Nedbank will subscribe in for 4,512,618,890 new ETI shares for worth $493.4 million. ‘’ETI will repay Nedbank’s loan of $285 million granted to ETI in 2011 out of the subscription proceeds,” the bank said.
ETI said in line with the earlier agreement it reached, the Nedbank Group will be afforded the right to representation on the ETI board. ‘’The Nedbank Group has nominated its chief operating officer (COO), Graham Dempster, to join the ETI board and ETI will exercise its reciprocal right to an appointment on the Nedbank Group board. Both board appointments are subject to regulatory approvals,’’ the lender said.
ETI affirmed it established a strategic business alliance with Nedbank Group in 2008, with the aim of providing seamless banking services across the continent to each other’s clients. ‘’This transaction deepens the alliance and includes a commitment to reciprocal technical banking expertise and management support,’’ ETI said.
It further affirmed that together, ETI and Nedbank Group will offer a unique one-bank experience to their clients across the largest banking network in Africa, comprising more than 2,000 branches and offices in 39 countries.
Nedbank Group is a Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed bank holding company with a market capitalisation of R117.8bn as at 30 June 2014. Its principal banking subsidiary is Nedbank Limited and the group is 52% majority owned by Old Mutual Plc (Old Mutual) which has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and secondary listings on several African exchanges including the JSE. Old Mutual and ETI are joint venture partners in insurance in Nigeria.
The Nedbank Group owns subsidiaries and banks in Namibia, Swaziland, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey, and has representative offices in other Southern Africa countries, including Angola, Kenya and key global financial centres to provide international banking services for SA-based multinational and high-net-worth clients in London, Toronto and Dubai (UAE).
