Angola is selling $261 million of bank shares seized from jailed tycoon Carlos Sao Vicente

Angola's Capital Market Commission has approved the sale of a 34 percent stake in Standard Bank de Angola, clearing the way for the lender's stock market debut and putting shares seized from Carlos Sao Vicente on the market six years after the state took them.

The regulator cleared 4.76 million shares for sale, according to documents it released. The offer runs from Sept. 11 to 25, with trading on the BODIVA exchange in Luanda expected to begin on Sept. 30.

Pricing is set between 41,220 kwanza and 50,000 kwanza a share, or $45.16 to $54.78 at 912.799 kwanza to the dollar. That values the stake being sold at between $215 million and $261 million, and the bank as a whole at between $632 million and $767 million, according to Billionaires.Africa calculations.

Most of what is being sold is already spoken for. The offer document reserves 24 percentage points of the 34 for Standard Bank Group, which already owns 51 percent of the Angolan unit and holds the right to buy more. That leaves 10 percent for public investors, roughly 1.4 million shares worth $63 million to $77 million.

Standard Bank Group will pay between $152 million and $184 million for its portion, taking its holding to 75 percent. The Angolan state, which owns 49 percent, will be left with 15 percent.

The shares reaching the market are the ones the government took from Sao Vicente in 2020.

He was among the most influential businessmen in Angola during the closing years of José Eduardo dos Santos's presidency, which ended in 2017, running a group of companies that sold insurance contracts to the state oil producer Sonangol. The court that convicted him found he had embezzled more than $1.2 billion and built a fortune of $3.6 billion, and he is serving a nine-year sentence for embezzlement and tax fraud. He was ordered to pay Angola $500 million, and assets belonging to him and his family were seized.

Singapore's High Court refused his application in March 2023 to release $2.6 million to cover legal fees, ruling that his family had access to sufficient assets to pay them without hardship.

President João Lourenço approved the sale by decree in July 2024, as part of a broader effort to recover assets accumulated under his predecessor and to reduce state ownership across the economy. Angola has completed 89 privatisations since 2019 and has 74 assets still to sell, among them Unitel, the country's largest mobile operator.

The transaction has taken two years to reach the market. Standard Bank was still working through outstanding Angolan approvals last October, with its plan to reach 75 percent held up.

Standard Bank Group, Africa's largest lender by assets, began operating in Angola in 2010. It secured approval last year to open correspondent accounts with JPMorgan in dollars and euros, an arrangement that reconnected Angola to parts of the global financial system and brought JPMorgan back into the market after a two-year process. Luís Teles runs the Angolan unit.