Posted by By SEUN ADESIDA on
A ground swelling offer is in the offing as Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) has perfected plans to raise a total of $3billion (N351billion) through a debt and equity offer in regional and international markets to finance its continuing expansion, its managing director and chief executive, Mr. Arnold Ekpe, said on Thursday.
A ground swelling offer is in the offing as Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) has perfected plans to raise a total of $3billion (N351billion) through a debt and equity offer in regional and international markets to finance its continuing expansion, its managing director and chief executive, Mr. Arnold Ekpe, said on Thursday.
"We will be seeking the relevant regulatory approvals for the offer to be made both locally and internationally, probably sometime in June or July," Arnold Ekpe said, 'Ecobank was established in 1985 and is the leading pan-African banking institution, with operations in 22 African countries, including Nigeria Ghana, Chad, and Central African Republic.
It is listed on the Lagos, Accra and Abidjan BRVM stock exchanges.
"What we are hoping to raise is an amount of up to $3 billion in debt and equity and this will be used to continue our expansion," Ekpe said in an interview in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, at the just concluded Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the bank held in Accra.
An Ecobank official said the bank would also seek to list on the London Stock Exchange if it could get regulatory approval.
Ekpe said shareholders gave the green light for the debt and equity offer at the end of the meeting in Accra on Friday, where they also approved a proposal to pay dividends 50 per cent higher than last year.
"We're looking to split the shares as well -- to make the shares more liquid and more affordable to the generality of the African," he said.
"I'm confident, because the value of the group has increased from $300 million to $3 billion, so we are hoping shareholders will display the support they have given us over the years."
Ekpe said Ecobank had also started to expand beyond Africa and was in the process of setting up offices in Beijing, Dubai, London, New York and Paris.
"Our objective is to make Ecobank products and services available to our people in the (African) diaspora and to link our people and businessmen to opportunities in the international arena," he said.
Ekpe was speaking after taking part in a ceremony to open a technology and telecommunications centre in Accra which provides the platform for the processing of Ecobank's back office operations across its African network.
"There is a revolution going in the financial services industry -- the financial service industry has become one of the pillars of development of the African continent, and we're seeing a lot of the underbanked being brought into the banking system," he said.