Nigeria’s youngest bank, Heritage Bank Limited has emerged the preferred bidder for Enterprise Bank Limited, while Fidelity Bank is the reserved bidder.
Result of the bidding was announced Thursday, September 11, 2014 by the Asset Management Company ( AMCON).
In a statement on the process, made available to the press, AMCON said, “The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (“AMCON” or the “Corporation”) is pleased to announce HBCL Investment Services Limited (“HISL”) as preferred bidder and Fidelity Bank PLC (“Fidelity Bank”) as reserved bidder for the acquisition of the entire issued and fully paid up ordinary shares of Enterprise Bank Limited (“Enterprise Bank”) (the “Transaction”). This follows the receipt of the approval of the Board of Directors of AMCON. HISL is sponsored by Heritage Banking Company Limited.
“The completion of the Transaction is subject to the fulfilment of the conditions precedent as stated in the Share Purchase Agreement (“SPA”) that is to be executed between AMCON and HISL. In the event that HISL is unable to complete the Transaction in line with the payment terms and other provisions of the SPA, the SPA entered into with HISL would be terminated and Fidelity Bank would become the preferred bidder.
“This process started with interest shown by 24 parties cutting across local and international bidders. The emergence of HISL and Fidelity Bank as preferred and reserve bidders respectively resulted from a rigorous and competitive bidding process, which was coordinated for AMCON by Citigroup Global Markets Limited and Vetiva Capital Management Limited (Financial Advisers) and G. Elias & Co. (Legal Advisers).”
Heritage Bank emerged from the ashed of defunct Societe General Bank, following approval by the Central Bank of Nigeria. It was launched in March 2013 as a regional bank with a capital base of N21 billion.
