STATE
BANK OF MAURITIUS LTD
COMMUNIQUE
1. Further to the cautionary announcement of March 08 2006 State Bank of Mauritius Ltd(SBM) hereby announces that Nedbank Group Limited has fully disinvested in SBM and exited from the Strategic Alliance Partnership. Nedbank Group Limited which held the 65,335,510 SBM shares through its subsidiary Nedbank Africa Investments Limited (NAIL) sold in April 2006 NAIL to SBM Global Investments Limited (SGI), a wholly owned subsidiary of SBM for US$ 49.2M resulting in an unrealized gain of around US$22.7M as of date.
2. As part of the exit process of the Strategic Alliance Partnership,
(i)
SBM Group disposed of its 50 % equity in SBM Nedbank
International
Limited to Nedbank.
(ii)
SBM Group disposed of its 20.1 % equity in SBM Nedcor Holdings
Limited
to Nedbank.
(iii)
SBM Global Investments Ltd acquired the 20.01 % equity
in Banque SBM
Madagascar SA held by Nedbank Group.
SBM Group has realized a net gain of around Rs92M on the above deals.
SBM has obtained the necessary regulatory approvals to effect the above acquisitions and disposal.
3. As announced, SBM is in discussions with potential partner(s) to forge a new strategic alliance consistent with the Bank’s medium and long term objectives.
By Order of the Board.
This communiqué is issued pursuant to Listing
Rule 11.3
The Board of Directors of SBM accepts full responsibility for the
accuracy of the information contained in this communiqué.