AfricaPress-Tanzania: PEOPLE’S Bank of Zanzibar (PBZ) has shown its intention to acquire three-quarter of Mufindi Community Bank (MuCoBa).
PBZ, the largest lender in the isle, has sent a merger notification to take over 75 per cent of MuCoBa to Fair Competition Commission (FCC) for blessing.
FCC notice said yesterday that PBZ wants to acquire 75 per cent of MuCoBa, listed on Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE), by a way of issuance and allotment of new share.
“Based on offer letter and term sheet submitted by the merging parties, [PBZ] intends to acquire… [MuCoBa] by a way of issuance and allotment of new shares…” FCC notice said.
The commission wants all petitioners against the merger to submit their petition within seven days, from yesterday.
“The petitioners are hereby notified to submit their petitions with a view to assist the commission in reaching just and reasonable decision with regards to the intended merger,” FCC said.
PBZ is a fully-fledged commercial bank offering banking services in conventional and Islamic Banking for both retail and corporate customers in Tanzania.
PBZ was established in 1966 and is 100 per cent owned by the government of Zanzibar under the Ministry of Finance.
The bank claimed to control 50 per cent of the isles market share, and its bid to acquire MuCoBa translated to strategy to claim more share in the mainland.
On the other hand, MuCoBa was listed in 2016 after selling 8,156,423 shares at 250/- per share, at the DSE’S Main Investment Market segment (MIMs), the lender’s share as of yesterday was trading at 400/-.
The bank share capital increased from 1.18bn/- in 2014 to 3.08bn/- in 2018. But in the quarter one of this year dropped to 2.76bn/-.
In Q 1 of this year, MuCoBa net profit rose almost 90 times, to 175m/- from 2.0m/- of similar quarter last year.
The Mufindi-based lender, which started as a Saccos in 1998, was later transformed to a community bank.
