Barclays Africa Group To Acquire Unity Bank Of Nigeria?

As reported last month, Barclays Africa Group Limited, is planning to expand its business footprint in the African nation of Nigeria without making a large and expensive acquisition in the country.

It appears the bank is cautiously working to strengthen its operation in the country.


“We have a rep office there. We do some business in Nigeria and we are going to grow that business and I think quite cautiously over time, and then we will see what opportunities present themselves.

“Obviously in the medium term we would like to have a bigger presence there but we are not going to make some big inorganic play which would be very expensive,” Barclays Chief Executive Officer, Antony Jenkins was quoted to have said on bdlive.co.za.

Barclays Africa Group, which acquired Absa in South African in September this year, does not have much representation in Nigeria.

According to a report by groundreport.com, the bank has expressed an interest in acquiring Unity Bank Plc, a second-tier Nigerian commercial bank listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.


"The board of Barclays Africa Group led by CEO Maria Ramos sent an Expression Of Interest Letter to the board of Unity Bank Plc and the Central Bank of Nigeria, offering to buy out shareholders in a deal that values the company at N87.6 billion ($438 million).

"The bank is likely to launch corporate banking in Nigeria to tap the opportunities being presented by multinational companies looking to expand into Africa, similar to that of FirstRand’s Rand Merchant Bank (RMB)", part of the report on groundreport.com reads.