Thursday December 1, 2011 4:42pm
 

Pan African lender Ecobank Transnational (ETI) said on Thursday it had obtained a $285 million loan from South Africa's Nedbank to support ETI's acquisition of Nigerian rival Oceanic Bank and consolidate its footprint on the continent.
 

ETI said Nedbank will be able to convert the loan into 20 percent equity in Ecobank in 24-36 months, which will deepen an ongoing strategic relationship between two lenders.
 

"By the terms of the alliance agreement, the two banks have begun to discuss the possibility of integrating more tightly in order to better exploit the obvious synergies in geography, customer base and cultural affinity," ETI's chief executive Arnold Ekpe said in a statement.    
 

Source: Reuters (Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha)

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