Qatar National Bank (QNB) announced the acquisition of an additional holding of 11% (2,047,877,260 ordinary shares) in Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (Ecobank), a leading pan-African lender.

With the latest acquisition, QNB Group’s total stake in Ecobank has now increased to 23.5 percent. The cost of this additional holding was equivalent to $283m (about QR1.03bn). 

The acquisition was funded through existing resources and QNB will account for Ecobank as an Associate in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards. 

QNB Capital and Morgan Stanley are acting as financial advisors to QNB in relation to this transaction.

This enables QNB Group to become the largest shareholder whilst strengthening the partnership with Ecobank and is a fundamental step towards QNB’s strategy of being a MEA Icon by 2017.