Actis acquired an 80 percent interest in BCR in a 2004 privatisation, with the remaining 20 percent interest retained by the Government of Rwanda/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 18 – I&M Bank Limited has entered the Rwandan market with the acquisition of a majority shareholding in Banque Commerciale Du Rwanda (BCR).
The acquisition of BCR involves a buyout of the 80 percent shareholding of BCR from private equity firm Actis, by a consortium comprising I&M Bank (I&M) who will hold 55 percent and two European Developmental Financial Institutions (DFIs), DEG from Germany and Proparco from France.
Actis acquired an 80 percent interest in BCR in a 2004 privatisation, with the remaining 20 percent interest retained by the Government of Rwanda.
This acquisition marks the third international footprint for the I&M Bank Group, which already has presence in Mauritius (Bank One Ltd) and Tanzania (I&M Bank (T) Ltd).
Currently, BCR has a network of 15 branches and over 250 staff as well as total assets aggregate of Sh12.4 billion (RWF 92.9 billion) as at December 31, 2011.
Following the acquisition, the new Board of BCR will take over, under the continued leadership of William Irwin, the chairman of BCR since 2009 and Sanjeev Anand, the Managing Director, who has been at the helm of the Bank since 2009.
“This is certainly a step in the right direction” said Sarit S. Raja Shah, the Executive Director of I&M Bank.
“We are guided by our customers’ expansion in the region, and this acquisition is no different. It further strengthens the position of I&M as a truly regional player able to offer seamless one – stop solutions to our customers who transact within the region.”
