Published: September 4, 2014
Qatari bank buys 12.5% shareholding in pan-African lender.
Qatar National Bank (QNB) has taken a 12.5% stake in Ecobank, a pan-African lender operating in 36 countries on the continent and a further four worldwide.
The Qatari bank's holding in Ecobank comprises ordinary and convertible preference shares purchased from the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Nigeria's state-owned bad bank. AMCON held those shares since Ecobank bought Oceanic Bank, a Nigerian firm bailed out by AMCON, in 2011.
QNB is now the largest shareholder in Ecobank behind South Africa's Public Investment Corporation, which invested in the bank in 2012.
In a statement announcing the acquisition, QNB referred to the deal as “a strategic partnership” that would help it meet its goal of becoming “a Middle East-Africa icon” by 2017.
QNB has businesses in 26 countries across three continents, including African operations in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, South Sudan, Sudan and Tunisia. Last year it paid US$2bn to acquire Societe Generale's Egyptian business.