THE South African Reserve Bank (SARB) plans to exit African Bank Holdings Limited (Abhl) and said yesterday that it had published a request for formal expressions of interest from both local and international parties.
The time had come to review potential exit options and for Abhl to obtain a long-term sustainable shareholder or shareholders who were better aligned to the Bank’s strategy and growth aspirations, the Reserve Bank said.
The SARB acquired its 50 percent shareholding in Abhl in 2016 as part of the restructuring of African Bank Limited, renamed Residual Debt Services Limited, after it was placed under curatorship.
“In its role as a shareholder, the SARB provided a capital injection to assist in financing Abhl’s operations. It was never the intention of the SARB to hold this equity stake indefinitely, particularly because its shareholding created a potential conflict of interest between its role as a regulator of the Bank and as a major shareholder of Abhl,” SARB said.
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