Barclays has sold its remaining 7.4 percent stake in Absa for £538 million (R10.7 billion), completing the British bank’s exit from the continent after more than 90 years.
Barclays fetched R169 per share in an accelerated bookbuild announced on Wednesday. Yesterday, Absa’s share price was 1.72 percent higher at R174.96.
The British bank announced it would sell Absa in 2016, as part of a strategy revamp to focus more on the US and Britain.
Barclays has steadily reduced its stake in Absa in recent years.
In April, it had sold another 7.4 percent for £526m (about R10.48bn currently). It sold off much of its controlling stake in the group – then called the Barclays Africa Group – in May 2016 and June 2017.
Barclays continues to have a representative office in Johannesburg, which is able to support investment, private and corporate banking clients.
In 2020, the private bank was granted a licence in South Africa to offer offshore services to clients located in South Africa.
Absa, one of Africa’s largest financial services providers in 2020 celebrated the substantial completion of its separation programme from Barclays, three years after the start.
Absa at that stage described the separation as “one of the largest and most complex corporate programmes of its kind”.
Barclays had become the majority shareholder in Absa in 2005 and the two groups had integrated their systems, processes and policies over time.
According to Absa’s 2021 annual report, the separation however still resulted in a R766m cut to Absa’s earnings, while in the 2020 financial year, this cost came to R1.93bn.
Just the rebranding for the separation involved more than 1 000 branches, 10 000 ATMs, close to 16 000 email addresses, several million customer cards, as well as thousands of uniforms, signage, forms, buildings and stationery.
edward.west@inl.co.za
BUSINESS REPORT