/ 18 September 2001

BoE BUYS STENHAM GESTINOR

SOUTH African bank BoE Ltd announced it had bought private client asset manager Stenham Gestinor for R404-million as part of efforts to boost its investment management and private banking business. The cash deal for the Guernsey-based Stenham Gestinor has already received regulatory and exchange control approval. BoE’s head of investment management Paul Leaf-Wright expected the deal to have a positive impact on new business and results ”in a fairly short space of time”. ”Through the integration with our existing Isle of Man operations, we can extract synergies and cost savings fairly quickly,” he said in a statement. Stenham Gestinor, which a BoE spokeswoman said had assets worth $700-million under management, has operations in the Channel Islands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Britain and Israel. The acquisition follows the BoE purchase of Durban-based retail credit company Credcor, Cape Town multi-manager Edge and home loan provider Cashbank. – Reuters