Barclays sale leaves customers, NSE shareholders in suspense

A Barclays Bank branch in Nairobi. The lender has 769,000 customers in Kenya alone. PHOTO | FILE 

By VICTOR JUMA, vjuma@ke,nationmedia.com

Shareholders and customers of the NSE-listed Barclays Kenya may have to wait for between one and two years to know the new majority owners of the bank, following the London parent’s confirmation of plans to sell its stake.

Barclays Africa’s equity is valued at more than £3.4 billion (Sh480 billion), according to the lender.

Chief executive Jes Staley Tuesday said the multinational will “sell down” its stake in Barclays Africa over the next two to three years due to increased regulatory and capital pressures facing global banks.

“We are today announcing our intention to sell down our 62.3 per cent interest in our African business … to a level which will permit us to deconsolidate it from an accounting and regulatory perspective,” he said.

Mr Staley’s statement signals Barclays’ willingness to sell the business to one or several buyers given its huge valuation.

Barclays could also sell the stake to several institutional investors in a move that would broaden the ownership of the continental banking group.

Conclusion of the spin-off will see the multinational sell the 42.6 per cent indirect stake it holds in Barclays Bank of Kenya, which is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

This means minority will get a new partner to replace Barclays and remain on the NSE, but the lender could de-list from the stock market depending on the preference of the buyer.

Barclays Africa CEO Maria Ramos said decisions like whether the new buyer will replace the UK multinational’s brand will be made later after.

READ: What impending Barclays Africa sale means for its customers

A change in branding of the group could see customers and shareholders re-evaluate their positions, based on the weight that they attached to the Barclays name.

A single buyer of the business is likely to be another large banking conglomerate with enough capital to finance the buyout.

Qatar National Bank (QNB), for instance, has made public its ambitions to expand throughout the Middle East and Africa.

The state-owned multinational in December last year agreed to buy National Bank of Greece SA’s Turkish unit for $3 billion (Sh306 billion), announcing it would pay for the transaction from its own funds.

QNB has also been expanding in Africa, buying a 77.2 per cent stake in Societe Generale SA’s Egypt unit for $1.97 billion (Sh200 billion) in 2012.