"We have already started with the working groups, together with IGAPE [Instituto de Gestão de Ativos e Participações do Estado], from Angola, to prepare the IPO," said the bank's president, João Pedro de Oliveira e Costa, at a press conference in Lisbon.
According to the president of the bank, from the Caixabank group, the operation is expected to take place in the first half of 2025.
"We are in the selection phase of international 'advisors' who will support us in preparing our own notebook", said the bank's president.
Although the bank believes that there are interested investors, João Pedro Oliveira e Costa highlighted that the inclusion of Angola on the FATF gray list could be "something conditioning" in the process.
The Financial Action Group (FATF), an organization that fights money laundering, announced on the 25th that it included Angola in its "gray list", as the list of countries that are subject to reinforced monitoring by the entity is known.
"We are sorry that this happened, but we will continue on our way", he highlighted, pointing out that the executive has adopted the necessary measures to leave this list.
Even so, João Pedro Oliveira e Costa highlighted that BPI's objective is "in this process and afterwards, to sell 100 percent of the position" it holds in BFA.
"We understand the IPO as a way to get out of the position we have, which has been announced many times," he said.
Considering that the African market can pose some difficulties for a sector as regulated as banking, the bank's president admitted that he sees "international investors in the same sector appearing with great difficulty".
The State indirectly holds 51.9 percent of BFA's shares, through the telecommunications operator Unitel, and the remaining 48.1 percent of the bank's capital belongs to the Portuguese group BPI, which has previously tried to reduce its stake in this bank.
The IPO should lead to the listing of the equivalent of 30 percent of BFA's shares.
These shares must be sold through an operation on the Angolan Debt and Stock Exchange (BODIVA).
Initially scheduled for the period 2019-2022, with a total of 195 public assets to be privatized, PROPRIV was extended to the period 2023-2026, through Presidential Decree No. 78/23 of March 28.
This Thursday, BPI presented its results for the third quarter of this year, accumulating profits of 444.1 million euros since the beginning of the year, an increase of 14 percent year-on-year.
The group's financial margin, which includes activities in Portugal, Angola (BFA) and Mozambique (BCI), reached 738.4 million euros until September, an increase of 6 percent year-on-year.
BFA contributed around 39 million euros to the group's profits, a reduction of 8 percent compared to the same period in 2023. In João Pedro Oliveira e Costa's view, the decrease in the Angolan contribution is due to the devaluation of the share price of kwanza.
