Approved by the executive, the takeover of the group by the Ivorian pension fund diversifies the portfolio of
this one and repositions the State on a segment where it was little present.
Already holder of 9% of Oragroup, acquired for 14 billion CFA francs (21 million euros) in October 2018
when it was floated on the Abidjan Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM), Caisse Générale
retirement of state agents (IPS-CGRAE) officially took control of the group at the end of November
bank, as Jeune Afrique Business+ had revealed two months earlier. With this transaction, the fund
pension fund for Ivorian public sector workers obtains an additional 52.45% from Oragroup, present
in twelve West and Central African countries, and controlled by the private equity investor Emerging
Capital Partners (ECP).
The operation, structured around a conversion of receivables owed to the CGRAE by the State, is estimated at
CFAF 123 billion. This transaction intrigues the market, the social security institution having
never piloted a banking establishment. If ECP remains at the helm for the moment, the CGRAE is counting on
new arrivals. Among the recruits mentioned: Jean-Louis Mattei, head of the Africa teams of
Société Générale during the 2000s. With this operation, the institution whose portfolio until then consisted
of real estate assets, shares and term deposits (DAT) radically diversifies its balance sheet. His wallet
of assets fell from 110 million to 190 million euros, while the share of real estate assets fell by 66%
38%, and that Oragroup becomes the main asset of the CGRAE (42%). The banking institutions of
UEMOA achieve on average annual net results of more than 15% of their income, while
investing in real estate, stocks and infrastructure only offers a return
annual rate of 10%, compared to 5% for bonds and DATs. "This diversification allows us to avoid a
overexposure to a single domain. The financial package with the acquisition of Orabank does not affect
the balance of the Caisse", confided to Jeune Afrique Abdrahamane Berté, the director general of the CGRAE.
The transaction also marks a shift in the strategy of Alassane Ouattara's government. " The
president changed plans. At the start of his first five-year term, he anticipated an increased presence of the private
in the sector, but today the return of the State will make it possible to support its policy of emergence, which
requires increased financing of the economy", confides an Ivorian minister, who adds that, in countries where
nationals are present in the banks, the banking rate is progressing. The area
Ivorian bank is 85% controlled by foreign groups. Owned by the State, the CGRAE had multiplied
equity investments in the banking sector in recent years, investing 16 billion CFA francs
in the public bank Versus Bank and 15 billion CFA francs in NSIA Bank CI. Unlike his
private sector counterpart, the National Social Insurance Fund (CNPS), which prefers to hold
non-majority holdings in the banking sector, the CGRAE intends to set up a long-term presence in Côte
d'Ivoire, with its potential of 85,000 retirees to whom the fund intends to offer new offers and
products. Oragroup had only 16,000 accounts in the country at the end of 2017. Moreover, by
July 2020, the Ivorian pension fund plans to sell 10% of its shares to the pension funds of the countries
where Oragroup's subsidiaries are located.
Asked about its ability to finance the growth of the banking group, faster than its competitors
to finance itself by issuing short-term and expensive commercial paper, the teams of the CGRAE
recall that it generates an annual capital gain of 60 billion CFA francs since the 2012 reform,
with the increase in the contribution rate and the extension of the retirement age. "Every year, the
contributions reach 250 billion CFA francs”, recall these same teams, according to which this
constitutes a sufficient manna to "continue the changes in progress".