Barclays Africa sees no lack of interested buyers for stake

The London-based bank’s shares won’t be “sold in the short term and a number of players will have a say in the process,” Barclays Africa Deputy Chief Executive Officer David Hodnett said in an interview in Johannesburg on Wednesday, without elaborating on who the buyers might be. It’s too soon to speculate how the British bank will sell its stock, he said, adding that regulators will be looking for investors who offer “long-term stability.”

Barclays Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley is cutting about 1,200 investment-bank jobs, restructuring management and reducing dividends after profit fell in 2015. Barclays said March 1 it plans to sell down its interest in the Johannesburg-based lender, formerly known as Absa, over the next two to three years to reduce demands on the capital it needs to set aside for controlling the company.

Bob Diamond, the former CEO of Barclays, hasn’t directly approached the African lender on buying shares in the company, Hodnett said.

While the two companies will still operate an investment-banking joint venture, the African unit’s work with multinational corporations and its cash-equities business may be impacted by the parent’s withdrawal, he said. The investment bank still has room to grow and Barclays Africa wants to expand in Nigeria, while searching for insurance assets in Ghana as part of a strategy to be among the largest lenders on the continent, Hodnett said.

Shares Drop

Barclays Africa dropped 2.1 percent to 138.01 rand, compared with a 3.1 percent decline in the seven-member FTSE/JSE Africa Banks Index.

The British bank bought the South African business in 2005 and three years ago the Johannesburg-based unit acquired its parent’s operations in eight African nations, giving Barclays a presence in 12 countries on the continent with 12 million customers. The prospects for South Africa and Africa are “pretty solid,” Ramos said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

“To sell over 42 percent of the stake in Barclays Africa, the most efficient move for Barclays Plc would be to sell to another bank or institution, which could be negative for Barclays Africa in terms of systems, strategic direction and timing to integrate operationally,” Harry Botha, a banks analyst at Avior Capital Markets, said in a note this week. Other South African lenders and any global systemically important banks similar to Barclays would be unlikely buyers, he said.

Credit: Bloomberg