Ecobank says extends share offer to Oct. 31

ACCRA, Oct 3 (Reuters) - African banking group Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI.GH) extended its $2.5 billion share offer open beyond the Oct. 3 scheduled close, the bank said on Friday.

"The extension has just been approved," said Rami Baitie, spokesman for Ecobank Ghana, who said the new closing date would be Oct. 31.

The Togo-based group launched what it described as Africa's biggest cross-border offer in August when it said it expected the offer to be oversubscribed, but since then global money markets have frozen.

Earlier this week, Ecobank's top official in Ghana Mike Cobblah said international subscriptions had been slower than expected as potential investors had less money available as a result of the global financial crisis.

Ecobank is offering shares listed on bourses in Nigeria ETIT.LG, Ghana and on the regional BRVM exchange in Ivory Coast ETIT.IC, which serves the eight countries in West Africa's CFA franc zone.

(Reporting by Kwasi Kpodo; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)