On African banking's highs and lows

摘要

I've had africa on my mind this week for a few reasons. Closest to home, we're in full swing pulling together IFR's eighth annual African Capital Markets Conference scheduled for October 16 in London, which I'll be chairing. As the title suggests, we'll be focusing predominantly on capital markets activity, but we'll also be delving into the African banking sector, in particular its ability to finance growth. Of course, there've been some heady developments in recent days. We've had the collapse, rescue and recapitalisation of African Bank (and that extraordinary outburst from a former board member about clients who defaulted on their loans); Moody's related downgrade of South Africa's leading banks - which drew an irritated response from the South African Reserve Bank; and on the more positive side the acquisition by Bob Diamond's Atlas Mara of ADC African Development Corp, the Frankfurt-listed pan-African banking group, which completed this week. With Bob Diamond's outfit having already acquired BancABC - which has ownership links to Union Bank of Nigeria - the stage looks set for the firm to set sail towards its strategy of building a continent-wide capability. Atlas Mara sold US$300m worth of shares to finance its takeovers. With a US$200m debt facility in the bag and US$325m of IPO proceeds, Diamond won't stop here.