UT Bank to sell 20% to foreign partner

One of Ghana’s indigenous banks, UT Bank is planning to sell 20% of its stake to an international bank less than two years after its establishment.

The Reuters news service quoted the bank’s CEO Kofi Amoabeng who is on a trip to South Africa as saying, the bank is looking for a foreign partner to provide long term funding.

Amoabeng also told the news service that UT Bank aims to double its balance sheet to $250 million now in the next three years, as it expects to benefit from dramatic growth in Ghana’s economy as the country is set to begin commercial oil production.

He was quoted as saying “We own 70 percent of the bank, we don’t need 70 percent.”

He indicated that UT Bank is willing to sell its stake, but any transaction would be complicated by the bank’s current share price.

UT Bank emerged from Ghana’s most successful non-bank financial institution, UT Financials. The business became a universal bank on May 4, 2009.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi