Banco Novo retains 9.9% of Angolan affiliate of BES

Angola’s central bank said Monday that Banco Novo, which took over the rescued Banco Espirito Santo, is to retain a 9.9 percent stake in the troubled lender’s subsidiary in Angola BESA.

The deal will be implemented through the conversion of a seven-billion kwanza (53.2 million euro) interbank loan into equity investment representing 9.9 percent of shares, said the Angolan central bank in a statement.

In August, Angola placed BESA, the local subsidiary of Portugal’s Banco Espirito Santo, under administration after its parent company collapsed.

Portugal then launched a new successor bank, Banco Novo, as part of a 4.9-billion euro bail out of the Banco Espirito, to avert a national disaster and threaten a fresh euro zone crisis.

Espirito Santo collapsed following allegations of accounting fraud in its mother company.

The Angolan subsidiary was 55.7 percent owned by the Portuguese group.