The Enko Capital — Oronte consortium, a major financial player in Africa, announces the signing of an agreement to acquire Société Générale Mauritania (Sgm), marking a major step in strengthening the banking sector in Mauritania.

Société Générale will be able to take an additional step in its African disengagement. On 17 January, a consortium formed by Enko Capital and Oronte announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire Société Générale Mauritania (SGM). No financial details have been released.

In June 2023, Banque de La Défense announced the sale of its Mauritanian subsidiary to the Coris group, but the project failed a few months later, as the pan-African company managed by Idrissa Nassa did not get the green light from the Mauritanian authorities.

To carry out its desire to leave the country, Société Générale has thus turned to new buyers. Enko Capital is a leading international investment company in Africa with more than $1 billion in capital under management. The company is managed by Alain and Cyrille Nkontchou. For its part, Oronte is a holding company founded by Bastien Ballouhey, a former French bank employee who founded an investment bank in Mauritania taken over in 2007 by Société Générale. He has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of SGM since this transaction

“ Building on this history, the transition should take place smoothly, in close collaboration with SGM's management teams, guaranteeing the continuity of the quality of service, and management and performance,” the consortium said in its press release. He also states that Bastien Ballouhey, active in Mauritania since 1999, , “benefits from a thorough knowledge of local economic and financial dynamics”, suggesting that the chances of success with the country's authorities would be higher than for Coris.