Lisbon, Portugal, 28 July – Portuguese financial group BCP plans to set up a stake-holding company (SGPS) in partnership with Angolan oil company Sociedade Nacional de Petróleos de Angola and Banco Privado Atlântico for future expansion in Africa, the chairman of the Portuguese group said Wednesday.

Santos Ferreira said that the SGPS would own 100 percent of the Millennium Angola bank and would analyse expansion “into new geographical areas, such as Sao Tome and Principe, Namibia and another two countries.”

During the presentation of teh bank’s results for the first half of 2011, Santos Ferreira said that the European markets – Poland, Greece and Romania – where the bank operates, with the expectation of the Portuguese market, are now considered to be non-strategic, and business in those countries may be sold if interesting proposals come up.

“In exchange, the main focus is in Mozambique, where BCP is already present, but also in other African countries, in Brazil and in China,” said the chairman of BCP, after announcing a drop in profit for the first half of 45.8 percent to 88.4 million euros. (macauhub)