African Development Corporation (ADC) has purchased 1,750,005 shares in the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) at Frw2,528 each.

The new investment group has bought 25 per cent shares worth Frw4.4b to recapitalise the 40-years-old financial institution, a move that will see the bank finance it’s long term investments.

BRD plans to invest in new development projects like mining and construction of students’ hostels around higher institutions of learning.

Henry Gaperei, chairman Board of Directors, BRD on Wednesday reported to the extraordinary meeting in Kigali City that the present capital increase will help the bank to strengthen its financial muscle.

"We shall continue to finance viable projects,” said Gaperi.

Government which has been the majority share holder in the bank with 48.12 per cent now has 20.62 per cent stake in the bank while the Social Security Fund of Rwanda that previously used to have 3.29 per cent increased its shares to 22.18 per cent.

BRD had to change its article of association to accommodate the new investor and increase capital structure from Frw5 billion to Frw7 billion.

ADC also recently entered into partnership with Simitel, a company that is solely responsible for Rwanda’s electronic payment system. The deal saw ADC invest $3.7m to recapitalize the company.

ADC has controlling powers in Simtel too, with a 70 per cent stake. Simtel will start offering Visa Access Point (VAP) — a credit card authorisation interface for higher volume services.

A Real Time Gross— an online system for settling transactions for financial institutions especially banks, and an automated clearing house will be effective.

Ends