Cameroonian banker Alain Nkontchou spends $2.35 million to acquire shares in Ecobank Group

Cameroonian multimillionaire banker Alain Nkontchou has spent N1.13 billion ($2.35 million) to acquire an additional stake in the leading pan-African banking conglomerate, Ecobank Group.

In early 2021, Nkontchou, the chairman of the Togo-based financial services conglomerate, held a beneficial 0.26-percent stake in Ecobank Group, amounting to 47,640,411 ordinary shares.

According to a Notification of Share Dealing by Insiders issued by the pan-African banking group, the Cameroonian multimillionaire banker acquired 131,379,263 ordinary shares in two separate deals executed on Sept. 1 and Dec. 20 on the Nigerian Exchange at an average price of N7.4 ($0.01788) per share.

Cumulatively, Nkontchou spent a total cash consideration of N1.13 billion ($2.35 million) to boost his stake from 0.26 percent to 0.98 percent in the bank as of the time of the drafting of this report. The acquisition increases his shareholding from 47,640,411 to 179,019,674 shares.

As of press time, Jan. 13, shares in the bank were trading at N8.6 ($0.0209), 1.15-percent lower than their opening price on the bourse this year.

At the current price, the market value of Nkontchou’s beneficial 0.98-percent stake is valued at N1.54 billion ($3.72 million), while the pan-African bank’s market capitalization is estimated at N157.81 billion ($381.22 million).

In the first nine months of 2021, Ecobank Group reported $256 million in profit on the back of improved efficiency in its banking operations, which caused profits to soar by 847 percent from $27 million to $256 million.

The triple-digit growth in profit was supported by improved asset quality and substantial loan recovery and impairment charge releases.

The solid bottom-line performance demonstrates the effectiveness of the management strategies, which helped drive efficiency in the bank’s businesses in line with its focus to drive down operating costs and improve the quality of its credit portfolio and liquidity.