Bank led by Morocco’s second-richest man to acquire shares in BTI Islamic Banking Group

Bank of Africa (BoA), a multinational pan-African banking conglomerate led by Moroccan billionaire Othman Benjelloun, is set to acquire an additional stake in the Moroccan Islamic banking group Bank Al-Tamweel Wa Al-Inma S.A (BTI).

The announcement comes shortly after Bahraini investment firm Al Baraka Group (ABG) received approval from the Central Bank of Bahrain to sell 43.65 percent of its stake in BTI to BoA, a leading Moroccan banking group, in accordance with its decision to exit Morocco’s capital market.

The deal, which is still subject to regulatory approval from Morocco’s capital market authorities, is in line with BoA’s strategic plans to increase revenue and earnings while deepening its presence in the region.

Houssem Ben Haj Amor, CEO of ABG, commented on the transaction, stating that the exits reflect ABG’s strategy to consolidate its resources to improve efficiency. He added that refocusing the group’s operations on its core business will allow it to improve performance and shareholder returns.

BoA is a pan-African multinational banking conglomerate, with operations in 18 African countries and a representative office in Paris. The organization is led by Benjelloun, the second-richest man in Morocco after the country’s Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch.

Benjelloun, a leading Moroccan banker and one of Africa’s richest billionaires who played a key role in the expansion and transformation of BoA, one of the continent’s largest financial institutions, owns a 33.39-percent stake in the Casablanca-based lender.

In 2017, the emergence of Islamic or participatory banking in Morocco coincided with the creation of BTI Bank. This bank was a joint venture between BMCE (which later changed its name to BoA) and ABG. At the time of its creation, BoA was already the majority shareholder in BTI Bank, holding 51 percent of the shares.