Luanda, Aug. 26, 2024 (Lusa) - The Angolan state has formalised the privatisation of 15% of its majority stake in Banco Fomento Angola (BFA), through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Angolan stock market, according to a presidential order.
The partial privatisation of the shares that the Angolan state holds in BFA takes place in the context and following the timetable of the Privatisation Programme (ProPriv 2023-2026), says an order signed by the Angolan president, dated 23 August, to which Lusa had access on Monday.
These shares are to be sold through an operation on the Angolan Stock Market (BODIVA).
The privatisation is supported by the Basic Privatisation Law, says the order signed by President João Lourenço, who delegates the follow-up of the process to the minister of finance.
The Angolan state indirectly holds 51.9% of BFA's shares, through the telecommunications operator UNITEL, and the remaining 48.1% of the bank's capital belongs to the Portuguese group BPI, which has previously tried to reduce its stake in the Angolan bank.
The Angolan state had announced at the beginning of July that it was going to reduce its holdings in the insurance company ENSA, Standard Bank and the Angolan Stock Market (BODIVA) by November this year, leaving the telecommunications company Unitel until 2025.
The government website confirmed the information previously put forward by the deputy leader of the National Interministerial Commission for the Privatisation Programme (PROPRIV), Ottoniel dos Santos, after a meeting of this body.
At this meeting, which took stock of the Privatisation Programme and produced the proposed privatisation strategy for a number of assets over the course of this six months and 2025, including the sale of Unitel, Ottoniel dos Santos announced that the privatisation strategy for the state's indirect stake in Banco Fomento Angola (BFA) had also been considered.
Initially planned for the 2019-2022 period, with a total of 195 public assets to be privatised, PROPRIV was extended to the 2023-2026 period by Presidential Decree no. 78/23 of 28 March.
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