British bank Barclays said on Tuesday that South Africa’s High Court had postponed a ruling on its bid to buy a majority stake in peer Absa after an apartheid reparations group filed for an injunction.
A Barclays spokesperson said the injunction by Jubilee South Africa had pushed the court’s decision back one day, to Wednesday.
Despite the setback, the spokesperson said Barclays was confident of tying up the deal.
”We believe our case is strong and the scheme will be successful,” he said.
”We believe that the deal we are doing in South Africa is good for Absa’s customers, good for Absa’s shareholders and good for the South African community as a whole.”
In Johannesburg, Jubilee South Africa spokesperson Tristen Taylor said that the High Court, after receiving affidavits, had scheduled a hearing for Wednesday and was expected to render a decision later this week on whether the case would be heard.
”What we are doing is asking the court to hold the deal. Barclays has an apartheid past. It directly funded the apartheid repression,” said Taylor.
Barclays, the third-biggest bank in Britain, launched its takeover bid in early May offering R33-billion (4,27-billion euros, $5,47-billion) for a 60% stake in Absa, the
biggest retail banking group in South Africa.
However Jubilee South Africa wants to halt the deal, claiming that Barclays still had to pay reparations for supporting the former white minority government before it can return to the country.
The court hearing had initially been planned for June 21, but was postponed for two weeks after Barclays failed to win enough shares for the deal to go ahead.
Barclays had by June 21 snapped up 51,5% of Absa shares — below the 56,5% required under the terms of the transaction.
If the deal goes through it would potentially be the largest single foreign investment in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994.
It would also herald Barclays’ return to South African retail banking after nearly two decades.
Absa spokesperson Errol Smith confirmed in Johannesburg that Absa and Barclays had presented written submissions but declined to comment further as the British bank is also facing litigation in the United States from a group seeking apartheid reparations.
The South African government has endorsed the Barclays takeover of Absa, describing it as a show of confidence from international investors in the future of the country, 11 years after the end of apartheid. – Sapa-AFP