* Standard Bank to retain 51 pct of Angola unit
* Seeks to become leader in Angola bank sector
(Adds details, background)
LISBON, July 24 (Reuters) – South Africa’s Standard Bank
said on Tuesday its Angolan unit has entered a
strategic partnership with local insurance and fund management
firm AAA Activos to pursue growth in the sub-Saharan African
country.
The bank said in a statement posted on its website that it
will hold 51 percent of the new shareholding structure in Angola
under the agreement, with AAA Activos holding the remaining 49
percent.
AAA Activos has 22 branches across the oil-rich country and
is a leader in the oil industry’s co-insurance market.
The deal involved a capital increase that was recently
approved by Angola’s central bank, Standard Bank said, without
providing any values for the operation.
Angola’s banking sector is seen as a major growth
opportunity for both African and international banks, due to
rapid economic expansion from oil output. Angola is Africa’s
largest crude producer after Nigeria.
The government has forced foreign banks to partner with
local companies, and lenders such as Portugal’s BPI,
and BES have in the last few years sold minority stakes
in their fast-growing Angolan units to local investment groups.
Standard Bank, Africa’s largest lender, received a licence
to operate in Angola in 2009. It aims to be the leading bank in
Angola and to have 20 branches open in the country at the end of
the year, up from 7 currently, it said in the statement.
(Reporting by Shrikesh Laxmidas; editing by David Dolan)
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