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    Friday, March 24, 2023

    Regulators Approve Access Bank merger with African Banking Corporation

    Access Holdings Plc has announced that Access Bank Zambia Limited (Access Zambia), a subsidiary of its flagship subsidiary, Access Bank, has received final regulatory approval from the Central Bank of Zambia for the acquisition and merger of African Banking Corporation Zambia Limited (Atlas Mara Zambia) into its existing operations.

    This information follows its announcement on October 25, 2021. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Competition Commission had earlier granted their “no objection” to the Transaction in 2022.

    Access Zambia will now move towards integrating and merging Atlas Mara Zambia into its operations, which is expected to create one of the top five banks in Zambian.

    The transaction is expected to be completed in third quarter (Q3) of 2023.

    Commenting on the transaction, Herbert Wigwe, Group Chief Executive Access Holdings said: “The transaction builds on our earlier acquisition and merger of Cavmont Bank Plc into Access Bank Zambia and underscores our resolve to strengthen our presence in Zambia, a key African market that fits into our strategic focus on geographic earnings growth and diversification.

    The combination of the two banks will create significant synergies between Access Zambia’s world class wholesale and transaction banking capabilities and Atlas Mara Zambia’s market leading retail and public sector capabilities to form a market leading universal banking platform that will greatly impact the Zambia market”.

    The Transaction is expected to be completed in Q3, 2023.

    The new addition to the Access Bank family, Daily Independent learned, is a demonstration of the corporation’s readiness and desire to take financial services to the nook and crannies of the African continent.

    Access Bank Pic, a wholly owned subsidiary of Access Holdings Pic in October 2022, entered into a binding agreement with Montepio Holdings SGPS S.A (‘Montepio’) to acquire a 51% majority shareholding in Finibanco Angola S.A.

    Finibanco Angola S.A. (Finibanco) is a profitable, well-capitalised full-service commercial bank with over 20 branches and around $$300 million in total assets that has operated in Angola since 2008.

    The Transaction was expected to be effected via the purchase of existing shares owned by Montepio-the holding company for Banco Montepio, one of Portugal’s well-established commercial banks.

    Spreading the crusade, the corporation also acquired an indirect equity stake in Sigma and the merger of its subsidiary, First Guarantee Pension Limited (FGPL) with Sigma.

    Following the sanction of the Scheme of Merger between Sigma and FGPL by the Federal High Court on December 1, 2022, FGPL was dissolved without winding up leaving Sigma as the surviving entity, according to Access Holdings.

    Commenting on the transaction, in a statement sent to the investing community via the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) Dr Herbert Wigwe, Group Chief Executive of the Corporation, said: “Following the successful completion of the merger, our plan is to leverage the synergies of these entities, as well as the Corporation’s expansive distribution network, strong risk management culture and best-in-class governance standards to create a formidable pension funds administration business.”

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