ETI set for a takeover?: The plot thickens

Thierry Tanoh the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ecobank Transnational Inc, the pan- African lender which has been hit by poor corporate governance allegations may quit next month after reports that senior executives called for him to steo down, DaMina Advisors LLP said.

Tanoh may resign at an extraordinary shareholder meeting that Ecobank is holding on March 3 to adopt a plan for recommendations on corporate governance made by Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission, New-York based Damina said in a note released February 17.

Could this be the beginning of a take-over battle for the West African based ETI by South African shareholders?

South Africa's Nedbank has options to convert a $285 million loan to ETI into equity by November 2014. 

Nedbank holds hold subscription rights into 2.478m shares (equivalent to a proforma 12.6 percent stake based on the December 2012 shares in issue).

It also has the right to purchase additional shares at a market based price to reach a proforma  ownership of 20 percent in ETI.

Meanwhile the South African based Government Employee Pension Fund (PIC), is already the largest single shareholder in ETI, with an 18.16 percent stake as at December 2012.

Other top holders include Nigeria's AMCON and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) a World Bank arm. (See Table).

At 31 December 2012, ETI had authorized share capital of 50,000,000,000 ordinary shares with a par value of 

$0.025 per share.

Fig 1: Top 10 ETI shareholders as at Dec 2012