Nigeria’s Access Bank has signed a Memorandum of understanding with its rival Diamond Bank Plc to form Africa’s largest retail Bank.
A statement cited by Africafeeds.com said the move follows Access Bank‘s selection as preferred bidder after a competitive process undertaken by the Board of Diamond Bank.
The proposed merger would involve Access Bank acquiring the entire issued share capital of Diamond Bank in exchange for a combination of cash and shares in Access Bank via a Scheme of Merger.
Based on the agreement reached by the Boards of the two financial institutions, Diamond Bank shareholders will receive $75, 588, 736.84 and the allotment of 6,617,253,991 new Access Bank ordinary shares.
That means two new Access Bank ordinary shares for every seven Diamond Bank shares.
The completion of a transaction would be subject to formal regulatory and shareholder approvals.
Commenting on the latest move, Herbert Wigwe, CEO of Access, said “Access has a strong track record of acquisition and integration and has a clear growth strategy.”
“Access and Diamond have complementary operations and similar values, and a merger with Diamond, with its leadership in digital and mobile-led retail banking, could accelerate our strategy as a significant corporate and retail bank in Nigeria and a Pan-African financial services champion,” Wigwe added.
Uzoma Dozie, the CEO of Diamond Bank, said “The board of Diamond Bank believes that the proposed combination of the two operations provides an exciting prospect for all stakeholders in both businesses and will create a financial institution with the scale, strength and expertise to capitalize on the significant opportunities in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa more broadly.”
Source: Africafeeds.com
