When The Banker first started tracking merger and acquisition (M&A) activity among Middle East and African banks in 2016, the story was dominated by lenders from the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC). In their hunt for higher returns and greater growth opportunities, these institutions had, over the preceding years, executed a number of headline transactions, from the Commercial Bank of Qatar’s $473m purchase of a 75% stake in Turkey’s Alternatifbank in 2013 to Qatar National Bank’s $2.9bn purchase of Finansbank in the same market in 2015.
But the standout story to emerge from the data in this edition, supplied by Mergermarket and covering 2017, is that this Gulf-led shopping spree appears to be over. Not a single bank from the GCC features as a bidder in the top banking M&A deals in 2017. Instead, lenders from the Levant, including Jordan and Israel, and, in particular, African countries, have emerged as the key movers and shakers. The motivations behind these deals are diverse. In the case of some countries, such as Kenya, they point to a much-needed process of consolidation of smaller banks. In others, they indicate a push by larger players to diversify earnings and assets.
