AFRICA ENTERS MOZA BANCO

The Portuguese company BES Africa, a holding company of the Banco Espirito Santo group, on Thursday formalised in Maputo its purchase of 25.1 per cent of Moza Banco, one of the newest of Mozambican banks, with the signing of an agreement with the managers of the bank.This closes a deal that began last year with an agreement in Lisbon between BES Africa and the two main shareholders of Moza Banco, Geocapital and Mocambique Capitais. Geocapital is the holding company of the Macau billionaire Stanley Ho, and describes itself as a bridge between China and the Portuguese speaking world. In addition to Ho himself, the main shareholders are Portuguese investor Jorge Ferro Ribeiro, and a second Macau businessman Ambrose So Shu Fai, who is also a Committee Member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body to the Chinese government.Mocambique Capitais is the driving force behind Moza Banco, and was the brainchild of a former governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Prakash Ratilal. It is a private shareholder company, open to any Mozambican businessman or other professional. It started life in 2001 with 13 shareholders, and now has about 300. Of the 25.1 per cent of Moza Banco acquired by BES Africa, 0.6 per cent was sold by Mocambique Capitais, and the rest came from Geocapital.According to a statement from Moza Banco, this reduces Geocapital’s holding in the bank to 24.5 percent. The changes leave Mocambique Capitais as the majority shareholder with 50.4 per cent. “With the entry of Banco Espirito Santo in the shareholding structure of Moza Banco, the share capital of this financial institution will double to 30 million US dollars by 30 June 2011, in order to speed up the establishment of more branches in other parts of the country”, said the statement. Moza Banco started its operations in June 2008. Currently it has just two branches and 63 workers. According to Prakash Ratilal, its expansion plan is to reach 30 branches and about 300 workers by 2013.