SOUTH African banking and financial services group BoE Ltd said on Thursday it planned to acquire Cashbank Ltd for R356-million cash. BoE said it was buying the unlisted company, specializing in housing finance, for its expertise in providing pension and provident-fund secured home loans on low-cost housing, as part of its drive into the emerging market. “Frequently, pension and provident fund savings are the largest asset of employed individuals in the emerging market and legislation enables this to be used as security for housing loans,” BOE chief executive Tom Boardman said in a statement. These loans offered good growth potential, he added. Cashbank, which will be integrated into BoE’s business division, has total advances of 359 million rand and additional assets under management of R150-million, BoE said. – Reuters
–>