This information follows its announcement on October 25,
2021. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Common Market for Eastern and
Southern Africa Competition Commission had earlier granted their “no objection”
to the Transaction in 2022.
Access Zambia will now move towards integrating and merging
Atlas Mara Zambia into its operations, which is expected to create one of the
top five banks in Zambian.
The transaction is expected to be completed in third quarter
(Q3) of 2023.
Commenting on the transaction, Herbert Wigwe, Group Chief
Executive Access Holdings said: “The transaction builds on our earlier
acquisition and merger of Cavmont Bank Plc into Access Bank Zambia and
underscores our resolve to strengthen our presence in Zambia, a key African
market that fits into our strategic focus on geographic earnings growth and
diversification.
The combination of the two banks will create significant
synergies between Access Zambia’s world class wholesale and transaction banking
capabilities and Atlas Mara Zambia’s market leading retail and public sector
capabilities to form a market leading universal banking platform that will
greatly impact the Zambia market”.
The Transaction is expected to be completed in Q3, 2023.
The new addition to the Access Bank family, Daily
Independent learned, is a demonstration of the corporation’s readiness and
desire to take financial services to the nook and crannies of the African
continent.
Access Bank Pic, a wholly owned subsidiary of Access
Holdings Pic in October 2022, entered into a binding agreement with Montepio
Holdings SGPS S.A (‘Montepio’) to acquire a 51% majority shareholding in
Finibanco Angola S.A.
Finibanco Angola S.A. (Finibanco) is a profitable,
well-capitalised full-service commercial bank with over 20 branches and around
$$300 million in total assets that has operated in Angola since 2008.
The Transaction was expected to be effected via the purchase
of existing shares owned by Montepio-the holding company for Banco Montepio,
one of Portugal’s well-established commercial banks.
Spreading the crusade, the corporation also acquired an
indirect equity stake in Sigma and the merger of its subsidiary, First
Guarantee Pension Limited (FGPL) with Sigma.
Following the sanction of the Scheme of Merger between Sigma
and FGPL by the Federal High Court on December 1, 2022, FGPL was dissolved
without winding up leaving Sigma as the surviving entity, according to Access
Holdings.
Commenting on the transaction, in a statement sent to the
investing community via the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) Dr Herbert Wigwe,
Group Chief Executive of the Corporation, said: “Following the successful
completion of the merger, our plan is to leverage the synergies of these entities,
as well as the Corporation’s expansive distribution network, strong risk
management culture and best-in-class governance standards to create a
formidable pension funds administration business.”