Barclays, Absa in Talks to Combine African Banking Assets

Barclays Plc, Britain’s second-biggest lender by assets, and South Africa’s Absa Group Ltd. said they’re in talks to combine their African units and complete a plan started seven years ago.

There’s no certainty the talks will lead to any deal, which wouldn’t be completed until 2013, the banks said in a statement. The combination would affect assets in Kenya, Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania and Ghana. Barclays, based in London, bought 54 percent of Absa in 2005 for $4.5 billion to expand in emerging markets.