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South Africa's Nedbank Sells Stake in Ecobank for $100 Million
(Bloomberg) -- Nedbank Group Ltd. agreed to sell its stake in Ecobank Transnational Inc. to a company controlled by the former chairman of the pan-African lender for $100 million.
Johannesburg-based Nedbank will sell its 21.2% stake to Bosquet Investments, which is the private investment vehicle of Alain Nkontchou, the managing partner and co-founder of Enko Capital Management LLP and a former chairman of Ecobank, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.
The sale of its stake in Togo-based Ecobank will mark the end of a 17-year strategic alliance that enabled Nedbank to expand its footprint beyond its home region. Ecobank's stock, which trade on the BRVM regional stock exchange in Ivory Coast, has plunged 75% over the past decade.
'We would prefer to own or control all of the operations that we're involved in,' Nedbank Chief Executive Officer Jason Quinn said in an interview on Bloomberg TV on Aug. 5. 'You can execute strategy much more deliberately when you own businesses.'
The South African lender became Ecobank's largest shareholder in 2008 through a $500 million investment that was formalized into a partnership in 2014. The purchase gave Nedbank access to the West African bank's presence in 33 countries, including 32 across sub-Saharan Africa and one in France.
Nedbank said its initial investment case had been negatively impacted by the deterioration in the economy of Nigeria — where Ecobank has a large operation — and the exit of various South African clients from the region, which has limited cross-sell opportunities. Synergies between the two businesses had not been forthcoming, it said.
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