Ecobank Group exits Mozambique, completes sale of subsidiary to Malawian lender

Pan-African banking group Ecobank Transnational Incorporated has exited Mozambique after completing the sale of its stake in Ecobank Mozambique S.A to FDH Bank Plc, according to a statement issued on Friday.

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FDH Bank, a Malawian lender based in Blantyre, offers services, including SME banking, digital banking and bancassurance. The value of the deal is undisclosed.

“The transaction, which received all necessary regulatory approvals, marks Ecobank’s full divestment from Mozambique,” the document stated.

“With this completion, FDH Bank Plc assumes full ownership and operational responsibility of the bank that was formerly owned in Mozambique by Ecobank.”

Through the deal, Lome-based Ecobank, which operates in thirty-five markets in sub-Saharan Africa, divested its 96 per cent interest it had held in the entity since 2014, when it acquired it from Mozambique’s Banco ProCredit.

The lender disclosed in August, when it first announced the deal, that it expected that the ownership and management change from the transaction would not unsettle banking operations, assets and the workforce.

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Jeremy Awori, the CEO, said at the time that Ecobank was contemplating collaborations with FDH Bank to help Ecobank continue positioning Mozambique as a corridor for cross-border payments through its pan-African digital ecosystem.

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Last month, Alain Nkontchou, a former chair of the corporation’s board of directors, acquired the 21.2 per cent shareholding held by South Africa’s Nedbank in the group.

Mr Nkontchou, a Cameroonian financier and the founder of London-based asset manager Enko Capital, acquired the investment for $100 million. The transaction will reach consummation once regulatory approvals are in place, with the proposed disposal expected to be executed in the last quarter of the year.

In the six months to June, the group’s after-tax profit grew to N433.9 billion ($278.8 million) from N311 billion ($227.3 million) a year ago.

Gross earnings increased by 24 per cent to N2.3 trillion ($1.5 billion) during the period, while total assets climbed to $32 billion, up from $28 billion at the end of last year.