The French bank has shortlisted two candidates to buy its subsidiaries in Mali, Burkina and Guinea.
But one of the two groups selected displeases the Guinean presidency, which is reluctant.
BNP Paribas' Africa managers are going to make a major tour before the end of the year
the west of the continent which should take them to Bamako, Ouagadougou, Conakry and Abidjan. Purpose of this trip
: inform the presidencies ahead of the sale of three of the group's agencies in West Africa.
Lobbying by Alpha Condé - BNP Paribas wants to sell the three subsidiaries to the same group and, after a long
call for tenders, selected two finalists: the Ivorian Atlantic Financial Group (AFG) of the businessman
Bernard Koné Dossongui and the Burkinabe financial intermediation company Lilium Capital de Simon
Tiemtoré. The offer of the first would be considered more advantageous than that of the second by BNP Paribas, but Lilium
Capital has a sponsor of choice in the person of Guinean President Alpha Condé. The latter has
recently sent an official letter to BNP Paribas, asking it to favor the candidacy of Lilium
Capital, which already controls Vista Bank in Guinea.
The shadow of Alassane Ouattara - But the presence of Lilium in Guinea alone does not explain the initiative
of the Guinean president. The latter is concerned about the proximity, real or supposed, of the CEO of Atlantic Finance
Group with the Ivorian presidency (LC n°804). Alassane Ouattara indeed maintains ties more than
tense with his Guinean counterpart and criticized mezza voce the president's third term plans
Guinean (LC n°806). AFG is also the partner of the Moroccan Banque centrale populaire (BCP) within
Banque Atlantique in West Africa. But Rabat, like Abidjan, was very concerned about the desires
of Alpha Condé to succeed himself for the second time (LC n°802).
The embarrassment of BNP Paribas - The initiative of the Guinean presidency considerably embarrasses BNP Paribas,
who absolutely wants to avoid robbing Conakry and endangering the sale of its agencies, step
essential to its withdrawal from Africa. The group has already delayed announcing the results of the call
tenders, closed since the end of July. The West African tour being prepared by its officials aims to lift the
political mortgages on the sale and prevent the countries concerned from blocking the process by
through their financial regulatory agencies.