 The move would boost Barclays presence in Africa |
South Africa's biggest retail bank says it is close to announcing a deal for Britain's Barclays to take a majority stake in the group. "We are near the final process... we will come with a formal announcement as soon as possible," Absa chief executive Steve Booysen said.
Absa, South Africa's third biggest bank in terms of assets, has just posted first-half earnings up by 16%.
It said it expected its strong performance to continue this year.
Absa has a market value of 45.53 billion rand ($7.60bn; �4.1bn).
Long time coming
Barclays, which first expressed interest in a deal in September, needs approval from South Africa's banking regulator and finance minister before it can launch a formal offer.
Absa said negotiations with Barclays and Absa's major shareholders over the British group acquiring a majority stake have progressed well. An audit probe of the bank's books has also been completed.
Mr Booysen told the Reuters news agency that Absa's main shareholders supported the plan.
However, shares in the group fell 1.15% to 68.80 rand on Monday.
"The feeling is the offer price can be around current levels and if you sell them now, it will be worth the same as when you wait for a formal offer," a Johannesburg trader told Reuters.
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