Stanbic To Pay US$19m For UCBL

Oct 17, 2001

SOUTH Africa’s Standard Bank Investment Corporation (Stanbic) has offered to pay US$19m for the 80% shares it has bought in Uganda Commercial Bank Limited (UCBL).

By Yunusu Abbey SOUTH Africa’s Standard Bank Investment Corporation (Stanbic) has offered to pay US$19m for the 80% shares it has bought in Uganda Commercial Bank Limited (UCBL). sources said the Bank of Uganda (BOU) board of directors who met in Kampala on Monday awarded the deal to Stanbic because it pledged to immediately pay 80% of the bid price, which is about US$15.2m. The BOU Governor, Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, reportedly chaired the board meeting that took the long-awaited verdict on UCBL. “Stanbic promised to pay the 20% outstanding balance (about US$3.8m or 20%) within one year. The board agreed that Stanbic’s bid price was better than dfuc’s offer of sh40b for a 100% stake in UCBL. “It should be noted that Stanbic quoted in US dollars while dfcu’s offer was in Uganda shillings,” a source said. However, Dr. Louis Kasekende, the BOU Deputy Governor, said details about the UCBL deal would be made public next week. He declined to comment on the bid prices, saying they were confidential. “We have reached an agreement with Stanbic in principal. There are confidential agreements which are yet to be signed. Once that is done, then we shall agree with them to disclose the bid offers,” he said. “Apart from offering sh40b for 100% shares, dfcu bank wanted to be given a five-year grace period before they could pay. The request was considered unviable because they also wanted government protection,” the source said. Stanbic and the Reserve Bank of South Africa directors are yet to approve the UCBL transaction. Stanbic reportedly promised to give BOU a feed back from the directors within two weeks. “Once Stanbic gets the approval and pays as per the bid offer, they are expected to take over the bank’s management by early December. Officially, the deal is supposed to be closed by December 31, 2001,” a source said. Stanbic and dfcu banks were the only bidders for UCBL when the bids were opened on October 1. Standard Chartered and Barclays banks pulled out of the deal for unclear reasons. Kasekende said, “I would like to assure the public that the UCBL sale was handled transparently and professionally by people of high integrity.” Ends

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