The Angolan State may take a stake in Angola-based bank Banco Espírito Santo Angola (BESA) after failing to honour the state guarantee on BESA loans worth US$5.5 billion, according to KPMG.

In the consolidated accounts for the first half of the year, the auditor of the accounts of Banco Espírito Santo attached a document explaining its refusal to approve the failed Portuguese banking group’s accounts, which included the decision to restructure BES Angola, according to Portuguese newspaper Observador.

In this explanation, KPMG noted that if the shareholders of BES Angola did not accompany the capital increase that was enacted by the central bank of Angola – including BES itself, which is unlikely to keep up with this capital increase – the Angolan state can take a stake in the bank.

“In the absence of a capital increase being subscribed by the current BESA shareholders there is a possibility that the Angolan State will replace them,” the KPMG auditors said.

On 21 July the National Bank of Angola told BESA it had to increase its capital by at least US$3.5 billion, after the bank had presented a loss in the first half of US$467 million.

BES has a 55.7 percent stake in Banco Espírito Santo Angola. (macauhub/AO)