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BancABC premises at corner Jason Moyo Street and 12th Avenue in Bulawayo

Harare Bureau
BancABC says it is currently in negotiations for $300 million credit lines from various funders, most of which will be concluded by the end of the year.
The facilities will be used to grow the size of the group’s business.
Chief executive Doug Munatsi told a media briefing on the Atlas Mara transaction that the negotiations were at various stages of conclusion.
“Most of the negotiations are with multilateral lenders and should be completed soon. I should stress that it is because of the Atlas Mara transaction that we are able to do these things at such a high scale.”
He however said there had been a delay in the issuance of a debut euro bond although it was still within the group’s scope.
Atlas Mara will also inject $100 million which will be used to boost the capital levels and size of business of three banking  subsidiaries; Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The new shareholder will give the group access to liquidity as well as tier II capital and lines of credit.
Atlas Mara closed the acquisition of BancABC and ADC last month through the acquisition of 95.84 percent beneficial interest in the banking counter. Munatsi said an offer for the remaining 4.2 percent will soon be opened with the prospectus expected to be available in the coming weeks.

“This will enable Atlas Mara to achieve 100 percent ownership.”
He said the transaction had obtained regulatory approvals including for indigenisation where the concerned ministry okayed the transaction but said Atlas Mara would have to sell between 30-40 percent of the Zimbabwean subsidiary to locals.

“That might not be a difficult plan to achieve as some indigenous shareholders now have shares in Atlas Mara.”
Munatsi added that the bulk of the 4.2 percent was mainly held by the bank’s employees through a staff purchase scheme. The group would then delist.

The Atlas Mara deal was consummated through a block deal by ABC Stockbrokers of 46,407,480 shares at 82c two weeks ago. With a value of $38 million, the deal ranks as one of the biggest transactions on the ZSE.

Munatsi said the board will have to be restructured in line with the new shareholding while new targets would also have to be met.
Atlas recently said it has recruited and/or engaged as consultants a number of individuals with exceptional investment and management experience in Africa. These include: John Vitalo, CEO (formerly CEO of Barclays MENA and ABSA Capital); Doug Munatsi CEO of BancABC; Jyrki Koskelo, Head of M&A and Corporate Development (formerly a VP at the World Bank and the IFC); Bradford Gibbs, Acting CFO (formerly Head of Investment Banking in South Africa at Morgan Stanley), Konde Bugingo, intended CEO of the commercial arm of BRD, upon closing (formerly  CEO of  RSwitch);  and  Kenroy  Dowers,  Head  of Development  Finance  Institutions (formerly a senior officer at the IFC).