Access Holdings Plc, the company that owns the most shares of Access Bank Pl, has announced that it will acquire a majority stake in the Angolan bank Finibanco. This stake will amount to 51 percent of the bank’s total stock.
Mr. Sunday Ekwochi, the company’s secretary, stated in a statement that the transaction would be completed through the purchase of existing shares that are owned by Montepio, the holding company for Banco Montepio, which is one of Portugal’s commercial banks. This information was given in response to a question about how the transaction would be done. Finibanco is a full-service commercial bank with more than 20 locations and assets worth more than $300 million. It works all over Angola.
Ekwochi says the purchase will be completed by buying existing shares from Montepio, one of Portugal’s oldest commercial banks.
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The Angolan market is the sixth largest in Africa and the seventh largest in the world. It has a wide range of natural resources and a growing population, which means it has a lot of potential for the bank’s goal of expanding.
He continues that the deal helps the bank reach its goal of being Africa’s payment gateway to the rest of the world while working with other banks focused on Africa to build strong and efficient payment platforms and ecosystems to serve the region.
What to expect from Access Bank’s acquisition of Finibanco’s major stake
The planned business is expected to make a big difference in the long run to the bank’s overall growth and financial results. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2023 after standard conditions have been met and regulatory approval has been given in Angola and Nigeria.
A standard completion audit will show that it will close at 1.0x tangible book value minus any changes that were already agreed upon. The bank has made a number of conditional agreements about this, and if the deal goes through, it is likely to increase its stake in Finibanco S.A.
Herbert Wigwe, the group chief executive officer of the firm, asserts that “At Access, our goal is as crystal clear as it has ever been, and our drive to capture accretive possibilities both inside and outside of Nigeria is our primary strategic focus. Angola gives our shareholders a chance to take part in what we anticipate will result in a higher value upside as Africa comes into its own as a continent.
“We haven’t changed our mind about making these smart, well-planned investments to build a strong, all-encompassing platform that will be competitive, diverse, and interesting for many years to come”.
Additionally, Ekwochi said that the company would keep the market up-to-date on any new information about the deal, as it was required to do by law.