Letshego enters Nigerian market
Pauline Dikuelo | Thursday December 10, 2015 14:23
The move is part of their strategy to expand into Africa.
FBN Microfinance Bank Limited is a deposit taking financial institution that specialises in micro-finance. It operates a branch network of 28 customer access points and has a staff complement of over 300, a depositor base of 80,000 customers and a loan customer base of over 10,000.
According to a statement on the Botswana Stock Exchange, shareholders were advised that the transaction in Nigeria as communicated on July 24, 2015 and updated on October 28, 2015 is now substantially complete after obtaining preliminary regulatory approvals in Nigeria.
“Therefore, the company is looking to become the 100 percent shareholder of FBN Microfinance Bank Limited (FBN MFB), a financial institution that specialises in micro-finance.
This is subject to obtaining final regulatory approval and the completion of the remaining conditions precedent,” read part of the statement. FBN Microfinance Bank will be rebranded to Letshego MFB in 2016.
Recently, Letshego acquired 75 percent stake in a commercial bank, Tanzania Advans Bank, as part of their African financial inclusion agenda. The acquisition was made by a way of subscription for new shares.
In Tanzania, they operate as Faidika; a brand that is distributed across all regions of Tanzania with services provided through 105 branches and satellite offices supported by 230 commission-based sales officers.
Currently Letshego, which ranks among top 30 market value sub-Saharan African companies, has nine branches in East and Southern Africa, which includes Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania and Uganda. It has deposit-taking licences in Mozambique, Rwanda and Tanzania.
Letshego has a market capitalisation of $700 million and profitability in excess of $52 million before tax for the interim period ending June 2015.