Johannesburg - Employees of Barclays’s Zimbabwean unit filed an urgent
application seeking to stop the sale of the bank to First Merchant Bank of
Malawi, or any other investor.
Workers are demanding the right of first refusal on the deal,
according to court papers filed in the Harare’s High Court on May 22. The sale
needs to comply with laws aimed at encouraging local ownership, the employee
group said.
London-based Barclays is reducing its operations in
Africa as CEO Jes Staley, 60, looks to support a trimmed-down investment bank
focused on London and New York. The lender is seeking to sell down its
remaining 50.1 percent stake in Barclays Africa Group to less than 20 percent to
deconsolidate the unit from its accounts, releasing capital that can be
invested elsewhere in the business.
Talks between the London-based parent and its
Johannesburg unit in which Barclays Africa would’ve bought the British lender’s
Zimbabwean and Egyptian businesses failed in December 2015 after they couldn’t
agree on price.
Read also: Malawi interest in Barclay's Zim unit
Zimbabwe’s economy has halved in size over the past 16
years, and the population is struggling with a shortage of cash, with banks
limiting customer withdrawals.
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