Absa may begin trading as part of Barclays Africa Group in Johannesburg from August. (Image source: HowardLake/Flickr)

Barclays has gained regulatory approval for a merger of its African operations with Absa Group, the South African bank in which it owns a controlling stake

Barclays said in a statement that Absa will begin trading as part of Barclays Africa Group in Johannesburg from August after regulators in Kenya, Botswana and Ghana approved or waived the deal. The lender will retain the Absa name in South Africa.

Absa chief executive officer told Bloomberg, “Africa remains a core focus for growth in Barclays’s global strategy. This is very much part of fulfilling on that mandate.”

Barclays, Britain’s second-biggest bank by assets and Absa had announced the transaction in last year and had to delay an earlier to plan to complete the merger in the first half of the year because of regulatory delays.

Barclays will increase its stake in Absa to 62.3 per cent from 55.5 per cent in return for merging its operations across Africa with Absa.

The shares received by Barclays will be worth about US$1.9bn, the companies had declared in December. Barclays’s businesses in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia and its Barclays Africa regional office will move to Absa as part of the deal.