QNB Acquires 11 Pct of Ecobank to Increase Stake to 23.5 Pct

Doha, September 15 (QNA) - QNB has on Monday announced the acquisition of an additional holding of 11 percent in Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (Ecobank), taking the group's total stake in Ecobank to 23.5 percent, QNB Group said in a press release. The cost of the additional holding was equivalent to $283 million and was funded through existing resources. QNB Capital and Morgan Stanley are acting as financial advisors to QNB in relation to this transaction, which enables QNB Group to become the largest shareholder whilst strengthening the partnership with Ecobank, a leading pan-African bank and is a fundamental step towards QNB's strategy of being a MEA Icon by 2017. Ecobank was set up in 1985 in Togo where it is headquartered. It is a leading pan-African bank with a presence in 36 countries across the African continent and in four other countries across the world. Ecobank is one of the top three banks by assets in 14 of the countries in which it operates. As of June 2014, Ecobank had $23.4 billion of assets and had generated $255 million of profit before tax (for the six months to June 30, 2014) and operates across its unique network of 1,241 branches, 2,500 ATMs and 16,245 POS terminals servicing over 10.8 million customers. With 20,114 employees, Ecobank is the largest employer in the financial sector industry in Middle Africa. QNB Group, through its subsidiaries and associates, including Ecobank, operates in 61 countries and three continents around the world. QNB was established in 1964 as the country's first Qatari-owned commercial bank. It has an ownership structure split evenly between the Qatar Investment Authority and the private sector, each of them owning a 50-percent stake. (QNA)