Equity Group Holdings has entered into a share purchase agreement with a Belgian entrepreneur and owner of the Forrest Group, George Arthur Forrest in DR Congo to purchase 66.53 per cent of the shares held by the company in Banque Commercial du Congo.
The public limited bank, BCDC business will now be combined with that of Equity's existing banking subsidiary in DRC, Equity Bank Congo following completion of the transaction.
Equity will pay $105 million (Sh10.69 billion) for the 625,354 shares to be purchased inclusive of dividends declared after January 1 this year, in respect of the financial year ending on 31 December 2018, hence a cum-dividend price per share of $167.9 per share.
The agreement is subject to regulatory approvals from amongst others, the Central Bank of Kenya, Banque Centrale du Congo, the COMESA Competition Commission and the board approvals of BCDC and EGH.
Equity is also set to increase its shareholding in EBC through the purchase of shares held by German state-owned development bank, KfW comprising 7.6 per cent of the issued share capital of EBC.
Equity held 85.9 per cent stake in EBC as of 2017, while Kfw at 8.1 per cent while International Finance Corporation with 6 per cent of the bank with more than $200 million in assets.
Equity Group Holdings Plc CEO and Managing Director James Mwangi said this is an opportunity for the Group to take further steps towards the delivery of its vision of building sub-Saharan Africa’s premier financial institution through delivering innovative products and services to customers, including, in particular, the effective use of technology.
“By acquiring BCDC and the KfW stake in EBC, EGH will expand its footprint in DRC. The Group aims to provide access to competitive, tailored financial services, expand opportunities for wealth creation while also delivering significant value to its stakeholders,” Mwangi said.
