Five Rescued Banks May Announce Potential Buyers Soon
- By Abimbola Tooki
- Published November 15th, 2010
- News
- Unrated
THERE are strong indications that five of the nine banks rescued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last year will announce their potential buyers in the next couple of weeks. The nine bailed out banks are; Oceanic Bank Plc, Intercontinental Bank Plc, Afribank Plc, Finbank Plc, Union Bank plc, among others.
The nine banks were said to have been weakly capitalised such that they posed a risk to the Nigerian economy and CBN issued them a bailout package of N500 billion. This prompts the CBN to seek for new investor in order to recapitalise them.
However Mallam Lamido Sanusi, governor, CBN said last week that about five to six banks will announce their potential suitors in the coming weeks. According to him, “In the next two to three weeks you will hear announcements from five or six institutions about negotiations on registered acquisitions.”
The apex bank boss had earlier said CBN had received bids for four of the rescued banks and that foreign institutions were involved in the bidding process as well as several local banks and private equity firms in partnership with foreign banks.
He also added that Asset Management Company (Amcon), set up to purchase non-performing loans and chase the recovery of bad loans, would begin purchasing assets in the next two to three weeks. By the end of this year, we will have put the banking problems behind us, he said. Meanwhile, the rescued banks lead stock market gainers after the CBN had said several of them are expected to announce negotiations with potential suitors in the coming weeks.
Seven of the nine lenders rescued in last year’s N500 billion bailout saw their stock prices risen, thus, boosting up the Nigeria’s all-share index. The index inched up for the sixth day in a row, notching up gains of 0.18 per cent.
Intercontinental Bank leads the advancers, with Oceanic Bank, Bank PHB and Unity Bank all up more than four per cent. Others gainers include Finbank, Union Bank and Afribank.
The nine banks were said to have been weakly capitalised such that they posed a risk to the Nigerian economy and CBN issued them a bailout package of N500 billion. This prompts the CBN to seek for new investor in order to recapitalise them.
However Mallam Lamido Sanusi, governor, CBN said last week that about five to six banks will announce their potential suitors in the coming weeks. According to him, “In the next two to three weeks you will hear announcements from five or six institutions about negotiations on registered acquisitions.”
The apex bank boss had earlier said CBN had received bids for four of the rescued banks and that foreign institutions were involved in the bidding process as well as several local banks and private equity firms in partnership with foreign banks.
He also added that Asset Management Company (Amcon), set up to purchase non-performing loans and chase the recovery of bad loans, would begin purchasing assets in the next two to three weeks. By the end of this year, we will have put the banking problems behind us, he said. Meanwhile, the rescued banks lead stock market gainers after the CBN had said several of them are expected to announce negotiations with potential suitors in the coming weeks.
Seven of the nine lenders rescued in last year’s N500 billion bailout saw their stock prices risen, thus, boosting up the Nigeria’s all-share index. The index inched up for the sixth day in a row, notching up gains of 0.18 per cent.
Intercontinental Bank leads the advancers, with Oceanic Bank, Bank PHB and Unity Bank all up more than four per cent. Others gainers include Finbank, Union Bank and Afribank.
