Equity Group Holdings, (EGH) has announced that it has has entered into a share purchase agreement with George Arthur Forrest. This is in the view of purchasing 66.53% of the shares held by Mr. Forrest in Banque Commercial du Congo (BCDC), a public limited company (société anonyme – S.A.) licensed by the Banque Central du Congo in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The Agreement specifies that EGH will pay a cash consideration of USD 105 million for the 625,354 shares to be purchased inclusive of dividends declared after 1st January 2019 in respect of the financial year ending on 31 December 2019 that is at a cum-dividend price per share of USD 167.9 per share.
Once the transaction is complete, BCDC business will eventually be amalgamated with that of Equity Bank Congo S.A. (EBC). However, the Agreement is subject to regulatory approvals from amongst others, the Central Bank of Kenya, Banque Centrale du Congo, the COMESA Competition Commission and the board approvals of BCDC and EGH.
EGH also proposes to increase its shareholding in EBC. In this regard, EGH shareholders approved the purchase by EGH of the shares held by KfW comprising 7.6% of the issued share capital of EBC following the exercise of a put option granted to KfW under a Shareholders Agreement relating to EBC, entered into between among others EGH and KfW. The proposed acquisition of the shares held by KfW is also subject to the approval of Banque Centrale du Congo.