• The announcement was made by the French bank
• For its branches in Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania and Chad
This Thursday, June 8, 2023, Societe Generale announced that it has signed agreements with two pan-African banking groups. The French bank intends to sell them subsidiaries in Africa.
According to the press release, Societe Generale will sell its subsidiaries in Congo and Equatorial Guinea to the Vista group and its subsidiaries in Mauritania and Chad to the international Coris Bank group. Financial details of these agreements were not disclosed.
“These four agreements provide for the total sale of the shares of the Societe Generale group in its local African subsidiaries: Societe Generale Congo, Societe Generale de Banques en Guinée Equatoriale, Societe Generale Mauritania and Societe Generale Chad, currently held respectively at 93.5%, 57 .2%, 95.5% and 67.8% by the group,” the bank said.
According to the commitments made, the two pan-African banking groups Vista and Coris would take over all of the activities operated by Societe Generale at the level of these subsidiaries, as well as all of the customer portfolios and all of the employees. Idrissa Nassa, CEO of Coris Holding confirmed this operation during the official opening ceremony of Mazars in Burkina Faso on June 8, 2023.
The completion of these transactions could take place by the end of 2023. They are subject to the approval of the governance bodies of the entities as well as the validation of the competent financial and regulatory authorities.
The Societe Generale group, which has a long-standing presence in Africa, “intends to concentrate its resources on markets where it can position itself among the leading banks, in synergy with the other businesses of the group”, continues the press release.
Note that on the announcement of the sale of subsidiaries in Africa, Societe Generale gained 1.2% on the Paris stock exchange.
