James Mwangi CEO Equity Bank 1594258431087

Business: Why Kenya’s Equity Bank broke off talks with Atlas Mara

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:39 pm

The Kenyan giant is renouncing the acquisition of African subsidiaries of the British headquartered bank Atlas Mara. A decision linked to Covid-19, but not entirely.

Atlas Mara – listed on the London Stock Exchange and co-founded by former Barclays boss Bob Diamond, its CEO until February 2019 – and Equity Group Holdings (EGH) have ended their negotiations that began in April 2019.

The transaction involved Equity’s acquisition of a 62% stake in Banque Populaire du Rwanda (BPR) and all of Atlas Mara’s subsidiaries in Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique (BancABC).

In exchange, Atlas Mara was to obtain a 6.3% equity stake in Equity Group, representing 252.2m shares with an estimated value of $105.4m at the time.

EGH is the parent company of the Equity Bank banking group ($400m in revenues in 2018), the second largest in Kenya and also present in Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania and the DRC.

(Africanbusinesscentral)

Samuel Okoro

Samuel Okoro is a political analyst and journalist who reports on African Union policies, governance, and regional diplomacy. His writing focuses on how leadership decisions and cooperation among African nations shape the continent’s political and economic future.

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