Vista wins bid to buy StanChart Zim

NDAMU SANDU

Vista Group Holding SA, the Guinea-headquartered financial institution, has won the bid to acquire seven units of Standard Chartered Plc including Zimbabwe as it expands into Southern Africa.

The deal comes after Standard Chartered Plc, last year announced plans to exit Zimbabwe, Angola, Cameroon, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Lebanon and Jordan as it redirects its resources within the Africa and Middle East region to where it has the greatest scale.

Business Times can reveal that Vista, which has banking units in four West African countries, won the race against other bidders after offering to buy Standard Chartered Plc units in the seven markets.

The deal now awaits regulatory approvals.

“They [Vista Bank] emerged as the preferred bidder. They have been advised and the transaction now awaits regulatory approvals. There is also a need for the confirmation of proof of funds and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has to take a probity test as well on the Zimbabwean side,” a well-placed source said yesterday.

The pan African bank will enter Zimbabwe and Angola in one acquisition as it announces its arrival in Southern Africa.

It will also expand into Central Africa by the acquisition of the Standard Chartered Plc unit in Cameroon, enters the Middle East markets of Lebanon and Jordan and expands its footprint in West Africa through the acquisition of the units in The Gambia and Sierra Leone. Vista has operations in Burkina Faso, Guinea, The Gambia and Sierra Leone.

Vista has entered new markets through acquisitions. It entered Burkina Faso in 2021 after acquiring BNP Paribas subsidiary in the West African country.

It became Guinea’s largest bank in 2021 after acquiring BNP Paribas subsidiary and combining it with its existing operations in the West African economy.

Vista already has units in Sierra Leone and The Gambia. It will merge the units with the acquired entities to create strong institutions in the two markets. Simon Tiemtore, a former Afreximbank and Morgan Stanley executive, leads the Vista board. The banking group wants to build a world-class pan-African financial institution and contribute to economic and financial inclusion on the continent.

The group has entered in strategic partnerships with various global financial institutions to drive its growth strategy by focusing on MSME (SME banking, leasing, microfinance, banking on women), trade and supply chain finance, bancassurance, increasing profitability while controlling operating costs and mitigating risks.

It is understood that Vista has the backing of Afreximbank. The Cairo-headquartered pan African bank has in the past advised and structured the financing of Vista acquisition of banks in West Africa.

Afreximbank believes the acquisitions will help to fill the gap created by the exit of international banks from the continent.

Other bidders for StanChart Zimbabwe were FBC Holdings and Nigerian bank, Access Bank. Access Bank has operations in three continents and had total assets of US$28bn as at March 31, 2022.

Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed FBC Holdings wanted to use the acquisition to build a solid base as it seeks to challenge CBZ Holdings’ stranglehold on the local banking sector.

In Zimbabwe, Standard Chartered has been the oldest bank, having begun operations in 1892.

Its exit comes despite insistence by executives that it was in Zimbabwe to stay.

Contacted for a comment on the latest development, a spokesperson for Standard Chartered Plc told Business Times: “Thanks for your email. There’s no further update we can share at the moment but please do stay in touch.”