CBN Hands Over Enterprise, Mainstreet Banks To New Owners

The nation’s apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Tuesday handed over two of the three nationalised banks bought by Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in 2011, Enterprise Bank and Mainstreet Bank, to their new owners, Heritage Bank and Skye Bank, respectively.

CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, while handing the certificates of ownership of the banks to their new owners, commended the leadership of AMCON for conducting transparent bid processes for the two banks without any rancour.

He said the CBN was poised to ensure that the nation’s banking sector continues to wax stronger and vowed to do anything within its powers to protect the sector from experiencing any serious intervention as was done in the case of Enterprise Bank and Mainstreet Bank four years ago.

“The CBN’s intervention has paid off now and everybody is happy that these banks are now attractive to investors. As the apex bank, we shall do everything to ensure that banks in the country are kept on their toes in terms of risk management and other relevant ingredients that make banks strong,” he stated.

The AMCON Managing Director, Mustapha Chike-Obi, said the handing over ceremony was the climax of a long process of getting buyers for the banks and also supervising the bid process without any rancour and promised that the same process would begin between first and third quarters of the year.

The Managing Director of Enterprise Bank, Ahmed Kuru, said God has given the management team the wisdom to run the bank and commended the level of professionalism displayed by the team.

His words: “For three years and four months, we conducted the affairs of the bank and we are happy that we are leaving behind a bank that is strong and in good condition. We are also happy that the new owner of the bank is Heritage Bank.

He, then, commended AMCON for showing great professionalism in the bid process, just as he called on Nigerians to support the CBN in its quest to stabilise the banking sector.

An Executive Director of Mainstreet Bank, Mr. Anyanwu, who stood in for the Managing Director of the bank, Faith Tuedor- Matthews, thanked the CBN and AMCON for having confidence in the management team of the bank to run the bank, adding that despite the huge challenges, they were able to administer the bank in line with best practices.

The Managing Directors of Heritage Bank and Skye Bank, Ifie Sekibo and Timothy Olutayo, respectively thanked AMCON and CBN for the transparent bid process and promised to take up the challenge of running bigger banks.

Heritage Bank successfully in October 2015 completed the payment for the acquisition of Enterprise Bank  after it emerged the preferred bidder through HBCL Investment Services, a special purpose company established for the transaction.

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 co-ordinated for AMCON by Citigroup Global Markets Limited and Vetiva Capital Management Limited (Financial Advisers) and G. Elias & Co. (Legal Advisers), AMCON said in a statement announcing the bid.

Following the announcement by AMCON on September 11 as the preferred bidder ahead of Fidelity Bank (reserved bidder), Heritage Bank on September 15 made the first payment of 20 per cent of its bid offer in accordance with the terms of the acquisition, while the remaining 80 per cent was later paid by the bank to signal final take over.

Enterprise Bank commenced operation in August, 2011, as a full-service commercial bank with a national banking licence. The bank operates via a sizeable distribution network of over 160 branches spread across major markets and commercial centres in Nigeria, and with over 177 ATMs, 57 Cash Centres and 2,000 POS terminals.