Nigeria’s FirstBank in talks to acquire Angola’s fourth-biggest bank Banco Millennium Atlântico

First Bank of Nigeria, the country’s oldest lender, is in talks to acquire Banco Millennium Atlântico (BMA), the fourth largest bank in terms of assets in Angola, valued at AOA 2.1 trillion (US$ 2.2 billion).

Talks between FirstBank and BMA have been ongoing for several months, in a round of negotiations between the owners of the two financial entities that are “quite advanced”, Angola-based newspaper O Telegrama reports, citing two sources.

BMA’s proposed acquisition is part of FirstBank’s long-standing expansion and presence strategy in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2011, it bought Banque International de Credit in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and, in 2013, the subsidiaries of the International Commercial Bank (ICB) in Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Guinea, and ICB in Senegal in 2014.

Although the parties have not yet made an official statement, during the summit meeting of the African Financial Industry Summit (AFIS), held in Casablanca, the economic capital of Morocco, on 9 and 10 December, which was attended by Miguel Raposo Alves, CEO of Banco Millennium Atlântico, the deputy executive director of FirstBank confirmed the bank’s interest in markets such as Angola, Cameroon and Ethiopia.

“There are several large economies with substantial banking pools that interest us because of the openness of their financial markets,” Ini Ebong was quoted as saying by The Africa Report, a publication owned by the Jeune Afrique Media Group.