IFC to Sell 14% Ecobank Stake to Dutch Investment Company Arise

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The International Finance Corp., a unit of the World Bank Group, agreed with funds managed by IFC Asset Management Co. to sell their 14.1% stake in Ecobank Transnational Inc. to Dutch company Arise BV, the Lome, Benin-based lender said.

The transaction will be completed “in the coming months” subject to approval by regulators, Ecobank said in statement published Monday on the website of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

The bank, which operates in about 30 African countries, raised $50 million of Eurobonds last month in addition to $450 million it sold in April to fund its operations. IFC and Ecobank didn’t answer calls on numbers listed for them.

Ecobank shares rose 1.5 percent to 10 naira at the close of trading in Lagos, Nigeria, its biggest market. It has dropped by 29% this year compared with a 10% decline by the Nigerian Stock Exchange Banking 10 Index that measures the country’s biggest lenders.

Source: Bloomberg Business News