Qatar National Bank on Monday announced the acquisition of an additional 11 per cent stake in Ecobank Transnational Incorporated Plc, bringing its holdings in the Pan African bank to 23.5 per cent.
The QNB had on September 4 acquired 1,767,612,630 ordinary shares and 732,277,056 preference shares in the capital of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, amounting to 12.5 per cent of the bank’s stake.
“The stake of 12.5 per cent includes the current outstanding ordinary shares and the conversion of the QNB’s convertible preference shares,” it said in a statement, announcing the initial deal then.
Monday’s deal involved the acquisition of additional 2.048 billion ETI ordinary shares by the Qatari bank.
The additional stake cost the QNB $283m with QNB Capital and Morgan Stanley acting as financial advisors to the Qatari bank in relation to the transaction, the bank said in a statement.
The statement read in part, “The cost of this additional holding is equivalent to $283m. Today’s acquisition was funded through existing resources and the QNB will account for Ecobank as an associate in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards.
“This enables the QNB Group to become the largest shareholder whilst strengthening the partnership with Ecobank, a leading pan-African bank and is a fundamental step towards the QNB’s strategy of being a MEA icon by 2017.”
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, established in 1985 in Lomé, Togo, currently maintains a presence in 36 countries across the African continent and in four other countries across the globe.
According to the statement, Ecobank is one of the top three banks (by assets) in 14 of the countries in which it has a presence.
“As of June 2014, Ecobank had $23.4bn of assets and had generated $255m of profit before tax for the six months to June 30, 2014,” the statement said.
It also said Ecobank was operating 1,241 branches, 2,500 ATMs and 16,245 POS terminals, servicing over 10.8 million customers.
“With 20,114 employees, Ecobank is the largest employer in the financial sector industry in Middle Africa,” it added.
The QNB, on its part, has operations in 26 countries and on three continents with a significant trading presence in Africa with branches, subsidiaries and associates operating in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, South Sudan, Sudan and Tunisia.
The Chief Executive Officer, Lambert Trust and Investment Limited, Mr. David Adonri, had told our correspondent after the initial announcement that the deal represented a very positive development for ETI and by extension the stock market.
He said, “It is a very positive development for ETI given the fact that the foreign investor is a well-established institution in the Middle East.” Agency report
