Britain’s oldest development finance institution, The Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC), has announced plans to pull out its investment from DFCU Bank, reports indicate.
CDC notified to the board of DFCU that on June 14, 2018, its shares and stakes will be up for grabs to the highest bidder.
Accordingly, the investors reached a decision premising on the recent DFCU image which has widely attracted scrutiny after the bank acquired Crane Bank’s assets and Liabilities.
However, DFCU has since been in the spotlight over the ‘shady’ takeover of Sudhir Ruparelia’s bank.
Reports quote CDC Investment Director Irina Grigorenko saying, “undertaking a review of its investment in DFCU Limited which may lead to the disposal or some of some or all of its shares in DFCU over the short to medium term.”
“After being a shareholder for half a decade, it is our aspiration to exit in a manner that causes minimum disruption to the business and ensures the orderly trading of DFCU’s shares,” Grigorenko told British press.
The aim of CDC according to Grigorenko is to identify “like-minded investors who could support DFCU in its new phase of growth.”
The announcement is a huge blow to DFCU which has been facing challenges since it took over Crane Bank.
The bank acquired Crane Bank, on February 27, 2017 at shs 200 billion.
However Former Crane Bank shareholders led by majority shareholder Sudhir Ruparelia and family have dragged the Bank of Uganda (BoU) to court, claiming their bank was sold to dfcu without considering their interests in accordance with the Financial Institutions Act.
