Equity Group Holdings Plc has announced that it entered talks with Belgian entrepreneur, George Arthur Forrest and his family to acquire majority stake totaling to 66.5% Banque commerciale du Congo (BCDC) for a cost of Kes. 10.5 Billion.
Equity Bank which entered DRC in 2015 through an acquisition of a local bank said this was in line with the company’s vision of becoming a regional leader in provision of Financial services. Once the acquisition is completed, the bank hopes to merge the Equity Bank DRC subsidiary with BCDC which will see it become the second largest bank in Congo by assets and the largest bank by deposits.
Equity Group had announced the acquisition of Atlas Mara earlier in the year, this saw the bank gain access into an four African countries. Atlas Mara brought on board 62 percent of shares in Banque Populaire du Rwanda, and 100 per cent of African Banking Corporation (ABC) operations in Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique.
Last week, Equity Group reported a nine-month pretax profit of 24.78 billion shillings amidst the effects of an interest rate cap that slowed economic growth.
