The parent firm of the largest bank in Nigeria in terms of assets, Access Holdings Plc, is to raise 351 billion ($233 million) from current shareholders to fund its ambition to become “the most respected African bank in the world.” Access Holdings would make 17.7 billion additional common shares, valued at ₦19.75 apiece, available.
The 35-year-old lender valued at ₦696.69 billion shared its expansion plans on Tuesday in a presentation to shareholders and other stakeholders at the Nigeria Exchange Limited
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Global Expansion Access Holdings
Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Access Holdings Plc Chairman, said in his presentation on Tuesday that they are the largest bank in Nigeria and one of the largest banks in Africa; their vision is now global, very, very global.
With over 60 million customers and a presence in three continents, Access will expand into new markets, including the United States, and set up a trade booking office in Malta.
Roosevelt Ogbonna, Access Bank MD/CEO, said that they are very selective in the markets they invest in. And they are chasing the money. It isn’t a return on ego. They are focused on where the money is.
The company’s strategy was centred on domestic and international acquisitions, allowing it to have a presence in 18 nations. It completed a merger with Diamond Bank seven years after merging with Intercontinental Bank in 2012.
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What’s the Next Chapter for Access Holdings with $233M Fundraise?
Access plans to allocate ₦223.00 billion, representing 65% of the proceeds from the rights offering, towards expanding its loan book and providing additional lending services to the corporate, commercial, retail, and SME segments.
It will also spend ₦68.62 billion (20%) to upgrade and develop its infrastructure upgrades. 15% of the proceeds (₦51.46 billion) will be invested in distribution and product channels, including new branches in Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Abuja over the next 24 months.
Access wants to use the new funding to become the financial sector’s first genuinely African global brand. Access has expanded rapidly after being acquired in 2002 by Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede and his late partner Herbert Wigwe.
UlalhIt bought most shares in the Angolan, Cameroonian, Gambian, and Sierra Leonean subsidiaries of Standard Chartered Bank in 2023. African Banking Corporation of Tanzania (ABCT) Limited was purchased by Access in June 2024.
According to Ogbonna, he said no Nigerian bank that was the size of theirs in 2002 still exists today.
In 2002, Access was not even mentioned among the banks that analysts today compare them to. It would have been disrespectful to those establishments.