{"id":196,"date":"2011-05-16T20:09:54","date_gmt":"2011-05-16T20:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/actis-weighs-sale-of-bcr\/"},"modified":"2011-05-16T20:07:17","modified_gmt":"2011-05-16T20:07:17","slug":"actis-weighs-sale-of-bcr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/actis-weighs-sale-of-bcr\/","title":{"rendered":"Actis Weighs Sale of BCR"},"content":{"rendered":"

Actis<\/span> LLP, a London-based private- equity firm investing in Africa, Asia and Latin America, may sell its Rwandan bank to Kenyan lenders.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Banque<\/span> Commerciale<\/span> du Rwanda, based in Kigali, the capital, is \u201ca natural acquisition for one of the bigger East African banks wanting to expand their footprint,\u201d Peter Schmid<\/span>, Actis\u2019s<\/span> head of Africa, said in a May 12 interview at the firm\u2019s London office. \u201cThat\u2019s a probable exit scenario. \u201d<\/p>\n

Actis<\/span>, which has $4.6 billion under management, bought an 80 percent stake of BCR<\/span> in 2004 in a deal valuing the company at $6 million. The Rwandan government kept the rest of the previously state-owned bank. Kenyan lenders including Equity Bank Ltd. (EQBNK<\/span>)<\/a> and Kenya Commercial Bank Ltd. (KNCB<\/span>)<\/a> are expanding across East Africa<\/a>, opening branches in Rwanda<\/a>, Tanzania, Uganda and southern Sudan, as the region\u2019s economies grow.<\/p>\n

The Rwandan investment was Actis\u2019s<\/span> first in the country. Gross domestic product has expanded an average 7.5 percent annually from 2004 and 2009, according to the World Bank<\/a>. About 30 percent of Actis\u2019s<\/span> capital is invested in Africa, Schmid<\/span> said.<\/p>\n

The Rwandan Stock Exchange \u201cis a bit small for now\u201d to list for an investment exit, Schmid<\/span> said.<\/p>\n

Rwanda held its first initial public offering in November when the state sold 25 percent of Brassieries<\/span> et Lemonaderies<\/span> du Rwanda SA, a unit of Heineken NV (HEIA<\/span>)<\/a>, the world\u2019s third-biggest brewer. The stock is the only company listed on the Rwandan Stock Exchange, which started trading on Jan. 31. Kenya Commercial Bank and Nairobi-based Nation Media Group Ltd., East Africa\u2019s biggest media company, are listed on an over-the- counter exchange.<\/p>\n

BRC<\/span> increased profit almost four-fold in the nine months through September on reduced costs and higher revenue, Managing Director Sanjeev<\/span> Anand<\/span> said in December. Net income climbed to 1.7 billion Rwandan francs ($2.8 million) from 433 million francs a year earlier as sales rose 12 percent to 8.5 billion francs, he said. The bank expects full-year net income of 2.2 billion francs, Anand<\/span> said.<\/h2>\n

In 2004, Actis<\/span> was spun out of CDC Group Plc<\/span>, a U.K<\/span>. government-owned investor in developing markets that was originally started 60 years ago as the Colonial Development Corp., to raise money from government, insurers and pension funds to invest in African and Asian companies.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Actis LLP, a London-based private- equity firm investing in Africa, Asia and Latin America, may sell its Rwandan bank to Kenyan lenders. Banque Commerciale du Rwanda, based in Kigali, the capital, is \u201ca natural acquisition for one of the bigger East African banks wanting to expand their footprint,\u201d Peter Schmid, Actis\u2019s head of Africa, said in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[75],"byline":[277],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","tag-homenews","byline-igihe-com-reporter"],"bylines":[{"id":277,"name":"IGIHE.com Reporter","slug":"igihe-com-reporter","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":277,"name":"IGIHE.com Reporter","slug":"igihe-com-reporter","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=196"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}