Chartered Financial Assistance Acquires Prima Commercial Fund

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) April 7, 2011 -- Buea, Cameroon – April 8, 2011: Chartered Financial Assistance, Ltd, (CFA), a leading microfinance institution (MFI) in Cameroon, today announced that it has acquired Prima Commercial Fund, SA (Prima), a Category Two MFI with headquarters in Douala, Cameroon.

“This acquisition and merger is part of our strategic growth plan as it allows us to function as a Category Two MFI in a much quicker timeframe than if we had to pursue the license by ourselves,” said Professor Januarius Jingwa (JJ) Asongu, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CFA. “We can now concentrate on growing the company into a formidable financial institution with a presence in every division of Cameroon. This deal has the potential of benefiting our customers, employees, and shareholders as it allows us to offer an array of new services.”

The multimillion francs acquisition deal will allow CFA to function as a Category Two MFI in accordance with regulations governing the practice of microfinance in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC). In order to keep the “Prima” brand alive, a spin-off private equity firm to be called Chartered Prima Capital will soon be established under the leadership of Mr. Camillus Y. Lawong, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Prima, but the company will be a subsidiary of Chartered Diversified Holdings Limited Liability Company.

“Prima Commercial Fund is proud to become part of the growing Chartered Diversified Holdings family,” said Lawong. “While Prima will be significantly reorganized as a result of this merger, I am pleased that part of our dream of providing funding for sustainable enterprises will continue with the advent of Chartered Prima Capital.”

“Chartered Financial Assistance has been growing by leaps and bounds and thanks to this merger, we’ll soon introduce more products like the payment of salaries for government and private sector employees,” said Mr. Stanley Fomenky, President and Chief Operating Officer of CFA. “In addition to the licenses that this deal brings to us, we are going to tap into their experience, considering that Prima has been in business for longer than we have been. We had really wanted to get the Category Two MFI license before launching our mobile banking platform and we are glad to have achieved this – thanks to the merger.”

About Chartered Financial Assistance: Chartered Financial Assistance (CFA) is a network of leading microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Africa, with its headquarters in Buea, Cameroon. It is a subsidiary of the US-based Chartered Diversified Holdings Limited Liability Company. For more information on CFA and the products and services it offers, visit us at www.cfamicrofinance.com or write to us at contact@cfamicrofinance.com. You may also call us at +237-3316-0526.

About Prima Commercial Fund: Prima Commercial Fund is a Douala-based microfinance institution (MFI), which received its license from the Ministry of the Economy and Finance in May 2007. For more information on Prima, call us at +237-7750-2558.

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Category Two MFI     CFA     Chartered     Chartered Diversified Holdings     Chartered Financial Assistance     Chartered Prima Capital     Microfinance Institution     Prima Commercial Fund