South Africa's Absa Group has received the regulatory approval to acquire Barclays Plc's African operations, clearing the final hurdle in the deal worth 18.3 billion rand ($1.9 billion).
Under the deal, Barclays will relinquish ownership of its African operations to Absa in exchange of a 62.3 percent shareholding of South Africa's third-largest lender.
Banking regulators in nine countries, including in Botswana and Kenya where Barclays has local listings, have given the deal the nod, Absa said in a statement. The transaction excludes Barclays' businesses in Egypt and Zimbabwe due to volatile politics in those countries.
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