 |
21 February 2002
Standard Bank spreads its wings in East Africa
Stanbic Bank, one of Africa's leading banks, has announced the completion of its acquisition of an 80 per cent majority stake in the state-owned Uganda Commercial Bank Limited (UCBL) for US$19.5 million. The acquisition, is one of Uganda's largest direct investments to-date.
The sale of UCBL, Uganda's largest bank by assets, forms part of the Ugandan government's privatisation plan. The bank has a 25 per cent market share, a staff complement of 1 200 and 68 branches.
Stanbic will merge its current Ugandan operation with UCBL to form the largest bank by assets in Uganda. The Ugandan government's 20% share of UCBL will be diluted to a 10% stake in the merged entity.
Standard Bank's latest acquisition positions the bank's African operation, Stanbic Africa, as one of the leading banks in the continent. Stanbic has the largest presence in Africa of any South African or African bank with offices or subsidiaries in 17 countries.
Says Simphiwe Tshabalala, Stanbic Africa's Managing Director: "Our existing operation has been very successful in Uganda's niche corporate segment. UCBL provides us with an opportunity to take a significant step forward into the broader market. When the two operations merge, we anticipate benefits through transactional, trading, funding and lending channels. We'll use the retail banking expertise of our South African-based operations as a springboard to provide Ugandan clients with a diversified and customised product offering.
"Our objective is to be the best bank in Africa. We aim to become the major credit provider in corporate, commercial and retail markets on the continent where we may create the greatest value for shareholders. Uganda, one of Africa's best performing economies, offers us an opportunity to be an African-based international bank of choice. That country has relative political stability, a stable currency and an impressive record of attracting foreign direct investment."
Uganda's GDP has exceeded six per cent in the last five years. Inflation has averaged five per cent, while banking sector deposits have been growing at 20 per cent a year over the same period.
|
|
|
|
