Abyssinia Bank, whose president is Mulugeta Asmare, pulled in a highest bid of 51 Br per share, as it sold off most of its remaining shares during an auction on March 23, 2017. This round of bidding attracted 558 bidders. The auction was the Bank’s second round of sales of shares returned from foreign nationals.
The bank’s previous round of bidding saw it receive a highest bid of just over 600 Br per share, which is over 10 times the highest bid in the latest auction. The initial highest bid of 1,410 Br per share in the first auction was found to have been an error by the bidder. The Bank has a total of 656,573 shares available for public subscription, although only 3,000 now remain. The Bank’s management has not yet made a decision regarding the date of the auction for the shares.
The trend of offering high bids for bank shares was seen throughout the banking industry as auctions were announced by the institutions. Awash International Bank (AIB) saw a bid of twenty times its par value during one of its rounds of selling, while Berhan Bank saw an offer of 4,100 Br per share. The shares that are returned to financial institutions will be auctioned off publicly, with the money collected over the par value going into the national treasury.
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