A delegation from Morocco’s Attijariwafa Bank (ATW.CL) is in the third day of discussions with Cameroon government officials to finalize an agreement to take over Societe Camerounaise des Banques, or SCB, a local unit of France’s Credit Agricole SA (ACA.FR).
Credit Agricole, which was making its second attempt to establish a presence in Cameroon after an earlier effort collapsed in the 1990s, had taken over management of staggering SCB from Credit Lyonnais SA (FD-CLC) more than a year ago, renaming it SCB-Credit Agricole.
According to local media reports, Credit Agricole is abandoning SCB, although tangible reasons are not given for the separation.
It is not known how much Attijariwafa Bank plans to pay for SCB, but state-run media confirmed a Dow Jones Newswires report from government officials saying that both parties are heading to seal a deal by the end of June.
“We’ve the desire to take over SCB from Credit Agricole in the shortest time possible,” said Mohamed El Kettani, chief executive officer of Attijariwafa Bank, to reporters after meeting with Cameroon Premier Ephraim Inoni.
Kettani had earlier met with Cameroon Secretary-of-State Laurent Esso and Minister of Finance Essimi Menye.
L.D.