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Nigeria: Blue Gets Go-Ahead to Set Up in Country
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
16 May 2008
Posted to the web 16 May 2008
Regis Nyamakanga
Gaborone
The Nigerian central bank yesterday granted South African microlender Blue Financial Services permission to launch the biggest microfinance bank in Africa's most populous country, CEO Dave van Niekerk said.
Intercontinental Bank would partner Blue Financial Services in the R60m deal that would see an array of microfinance products being rolled out in 280 branches over the next few weeks, Van Niekerk said.
The deal brought to 12 the number of African countries where Blue Financial Services operates and made the company the biggest microlender in Africa, Van Niekerk said.
"We are also exploring business opportunities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo , Rwanda and Cameroon," he said after Blue was dual-listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange yesterday.
Blue's more than 470-million shares listed on the JSE's AltX would now trade on the Botswana bourse's foreign company index with South African blue-chip companies such as Investec and Anglo American.
Van Niekerk said the Botswana listing was part of the strategy of listings on a number of African exchanges.
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"This particular listing has given Botswana shareholders, both private and institutional, the opportunity to hold publicly traded shares in Blue," he said.
Prior to the listing there were eight Botswana shareholders in Blue holding less than 2%, Van Niekerk said. The aim was to increase the Botswana shareholding to as much as 10%.
Blue launched in Botswana in August 2002 and operates 22 branches in the country. The company also operates in Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Malawi, Lesotho, Namibia, Kenya, Nigeria and its home base, SA.
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