Qatar National Bank (QNB) has acquired a further 11 percent stake in Ecobank Transnational Incorporated in a deal worth $283 million, making it the pan-African lender’s largest shareholder.
QNB acquired 2.048 billion ordinary shares using its existing resources to take its total holding in the bank to 23.5 percent, it said in a statement.
Monday’s purchase comes after QNB acquired a 12.5 percent stake in Ecobank from Nigerian “bad bank” Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) this month.
“This enables QNB Group to become the largest shareholder whilst strengthening the partnership with Ecobank,” QNB said in the statement, adding it was advised on the deal by its own investment banking arm and Morgan Stanley.
QNB has said it wants to become the largest bank in the Middle East and Africa by 2017. At the moment, it is second in terms of assets to South Africa’s Standard Bank.
Its investment in Ecobank is the Qatari lender’s second African purchase in the past two years. In March 2013, it bought Societe Generale’s Egyptian business for $2 billion.
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