By offering himself the two subsidiaries of BNP Paribas, the Burkinabe leader of Vista Bank is setting foot in the WAEMU zone ... and does not intend to stop there.

Where does it come from and where does it go? Until the announcement of the acquisition of the Burkinabe and Guinean subsidiaries of BNP Paribas by Vista Bank, Simon Tiemtoré, 46, was little known in West African financial circles.

The operation, for which he was in competition with the financial group of the Ivorian "serial entrepreneur" Dossongui Koné, which has released some 31 million euros for the acquisition of the Malian subsidiary, reveals a new player with whom it will now be necessary to count.

At stake: the sale of the French giant's 51% stake in the capital of Biciab in Burkina Faso (4.2 billion CFA francs in profit in 2018) and its 55% stake in the capital of Bicigui, in Guinea, to Lilium Capital, the holding company that controls Vista Bank. The latter is already present in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Gambia.

One foot in the franc zone

"It's a good operation for the seller. Looking at the financial structuring of the file, which provides for a single authorization, Simon Tiemtoré, in his capacity as financier, is betting on the potential of the bank. By adjusting the means, the buyer can quickly generate profits of 5 to 7 billion CFA francs, "comments on condition of anonymity a BNP executive.

According to our information, the amount of the Biciab transaction would be around 33 million euros, that of Bicigui remaining unknown.

To finance this operation, Vista Group is supported by Afreximbank, which structured the financial package of the transaction – initially planned to the tune of $ 103 million for the takeover of the Malian subsidiaries (finally taken over by Dossongui Koné), as well as Guinean and Burkinabe.

"The agreement for the takeover of the subsidiaries of BNP Paribas allows Vista Bank to enter the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) area. We will create a bank holding company in Ouagadougou to serve as a headquarters for the new entities and especially as a point of expansion in the franc zone," explains a source close to the Burkinabe entrepreneur.

Competing in Togo

A law graduate from the University of Ouagadougou, the American University and the New York University School of Law, the leader first practiced as a lawyer before turning to finance and co-founding Lilium Capital, with which he will buy in 2015 the Gambian bank First International Banking Group, renamed Vista Bank Group.

Since then, it has tried unsuccessfully to buy the Togolese Bank for Trade and Industry and the Commercial Bank of Burkina Faso, owned equally by the Burkinabe State and the Foreign Libyan Fund.

However, Lilium Capital remains in the running for the sale of the Togolese Union of Banks, for which Lomé is demanding €26.7 million and the takeover of €38 million in debt. A file in which "Vista Bank is positioned", confirms our source.

Digitizing

To make a place for itself in the West African banking sector dominated by Moroccan groups Attijariwafa Bank and Bank of Africa or the pan-African Ecobank and Oragroup, Vista Bank highlights its digital banking services.

"We want to be among the top two banks in each of our countries of presence thanks to our innovative service offerings. Faced with the low rate of banking in West Africa (less than 10%), there is room for manoeuvre, "before the entrenchment of the boss of Lilium.

"The challenge for this new entrant, little known, will be to properly capitalize the banks for the production of credits. In Burkina, the battle is often fought over innovation and agility in the granting of credit to SMEs, particularly in trade and agriculture, "says a connoisseur.

BNP's last strongholds in Africa

Still in the hands of the French group, Bicici, an Ivorian subsidiary, announced a loss of 3.6 billion CFA francs (5.5 million euros) last year, after having made a net profit of 9.8 billion a year earlier. At the same time, its net banking income contracted by 5.8% to 45.9 billion CFA francs.

In addition to Bicici, BNP Paribas also retains its Senegalese and Moroccan subsidiaries, the last African strongholds of the French giant after its successive withdrawal from Tunisia, Mali and Gabon.