Shareholders in South Africa’s BoE Ltd approved the bank’s R7,5-billion takeover by bigger financial services group Nedcor on Monday, as had been widely expected.
Nedcor, the country’s third biggest bank by market value, offered R290 in cash and 0,4854369 Nedcor shares for every 100 BoE shares.
”The vote was for the Nedcor offer,” a BoE representative told Reuters of the cash and paper offer.
Based on the 2,13 billion shares the companies said were in issue at the time of the original offer, and Nedcor’s current share price, the offer is worth almost R7,5-billion.
BoE, whose board has recommended the transaction, effectively put itself up for sale in March after the government guaranteed deposits following a run at the Cape-based bank.
The run was sparked by a similar deposit run at peer Saambou bank, which was taken into administration by financial authorities in February.
Depositors, nervous about the industry’s overexposure to the risky, small loans sector pulled more than a billion rand from Saambou accounts in a matter of days.
The Reserve Bank and the Ministry of Finance issued a statement guaranteeing BoE’s deposits, but that failed to fully restore BoE’s liquidity levels. – Reuters