MARKET NEWS
Access Bank to Buy Bidvest Bank as it Seeks Bigger Footprint - BLOOMBERG
(Bloomberg) -- Access Bank Plc has offered to acquire Bidvest Bank Holdings Ltd. for about 2.8 billion rand (159 million) to help Nigeria’s biggest lender by assets expand in South Africa.
Purchasing the lender from Bidvest Group Ltd. takes Access Bank, a unit of Access Holdings Plc, closer to its 2027 goal of becoming one of the continent’s largest lenders.
“This acquisition supports our ambition to expand across Africa and solidify our presence in key markets, with South Africa being a top priority,” Access Managing Director Roosevelt Ogbonna said in a statement Thursday.
Access Bank is on an ambitious five-year growth plan that seeks to double the share of assets outside its home market by 2027 and rank among Africa’s five biggest banks. It has operations in about 23 countries including the United Arab Emirates and the UK, servicing more than 60 million customers in three continents.
On Dec. 10, it started a unit in Malta after receiving approvals from the European Central Bank and the Malta Financial Services Authority.
Bidvest in July said it would dispose of its financial-services businesses to focus on what it deems to be its primary operations of hygiene, facilities management and product distribution.
Insurer Momentum Group Ltd. will acquire all of FinGlobal, while discussions on the sale of Bidvest Life to a life insurer will likely reach agreement in coming weeks, the company said.
--With assistance from Emele Onu.
