22 April 2008 - Gide Loyrette Nouel Paris advises the Republic of Mali on the privatisation of the Banque Internationale pour le Mali :

The Republic of Mali announced on 18 April 2008 an invitation to tender within the framework of transferring a strategic participation in the share capital of the Banque Internationale pour le Mali (BIM SA).

The second largest commercial bank in Mali, BIM SA posts a net profit of more than 5.6 billion CFA Francs (€ 8.5 million) and benefits from a network covering the whole of Mali.

The invitation to tender is for 51% of the shares and the voting rights of BIM SA and aims to attract a strategic bank that is likely to further the development of BIM SA. This invitation to tender falls within the policy of disengagement from the financial sector that was implemented by the Government of Mali through the Projet de Développement du Secteur Financier.

In this operation, Gide Loyrette Nouel (François Krotoff, Leïla Hubeaut and Romain Régulaire) advises the Republic of Mali. François Krotoff leads a very active team on the African continent, intervening notably in matters of project finance and privatisations but equally in the fields of both mining and hydrocarbons.