Regis Nyamakanga
25 July 2007
Johannesburg — FIRST National Bank and Santam yesterday joined the league of South African financial services firms trekking north into the rest of Africa amid a heightened global rush for investments in the resource-rich continent.
FNB, a unit of FirstRand, said yesterday it had acquired 80% of Mozambican bank Banco Desenvolvimento e Comercio (BDC).
CEO Michael Jordaan said the R139m deal included buying 19,96% of Interbancos, which provided card-reading devices, automated teller machines, cellphone banking and clearing of transactions between banks.
This brought to five the number of countries that FNB operated in Africa outside SA.
FNB operates in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland.
A high-level executive had been appointed to look for opportunities in the region, Jordaan said.
"The acquisition of a bank of this size is in line with the group's accelerated greenfields strategy, where for acquisition purposes the group favours small operations that have entrepreneurial initiative, intellectual flair and local market contacts that act as beachheads to look for bigger opportunities," Jordaan said.
"With a strong presence already in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland, Mozambique's geographical proximity to SA presents a natural space to expand into and gain cross- border experience.
Short-term insurer Santam said yesterday it was growing its corporate business in Kenya, Tanzania and Mauritius with many South African and multinational corporations setting up businesses there.
Santam already has operations in Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Botswana and Zambia.
Head of corporate business Richard Payne said the company was placing special emphasis on growing business in Africa. The company had set up a network of insurance partners on the continent, he said, without naming them.
South African companies have been increasing their presence in Africa, with insurer Old Mutual saying it planned to spend R2bn in the next five years growing its continental business.
Standard Bank is the largest player on the continent, operating in 17 countries.
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