SKYE BANK GETS NOD TO ACQUIRE MAINSTREET BANK

MD, Skye Bank, Timothy Oguntayo

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) yesterday announced Skye Bank Plc as preferred bidder for the acquisition of entire issued and fully paid up ordinary shares of Mainstreet Bank Limited.
The AMCON Head, Corporate Communications Strategy & Research, Kayode Lambo who disclosed this in a statement, said that Cedar One Investment Partners Limited emerged as the first reserve bidder while Fidelity Bank Plc was named the second reserve bidder.
The announcement, he said, followed the receipt of approval of the Board of Directors of AMCON.
However, Lambo said the completion of the transaction is subject to the fulfillment of the conditions precedent as stated in the Share Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) to be executed with Skye Bank Plc, as well as the receipt of all required regulatory approvals from the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
He explained that in the event that Skye Bank is unable to complete the transaction in line with the payment terms and other provisions of the SPA, the SPA entered into with Skye Bank would be terminated and Cedar would become the preferred bidder.
Likewise, should Cedar fail to complete the transaction in line with the payment terms and other provisions of the SPA, Fidelity Bank would become the preferred bidder.
According to the AMCON Spokesman, the Mainstreet Bank sale process started with interest shown by 25 parties cutting across local and international investors.
The emergence of Skye Bank, Cedar and Fidelity Bank as preferred, first and second  reserve bidders, respectively, he said, resulted from a rigorous and competitive bidding process, coordinated for AMCON by Barclays Africa Group Limited and Afrinvest West Africa Limited (Financial Advisers) and Banwo & Ighodalo (Legal Advisers).
Mainstreet Bank Limited commenced operation in August, 2011, as a full-service commercial bank with a national banking license. The bank is one of the bridged banks wholly owned by AMCON.
Mainstreet Bank has nine subsidiaries and a distribution network comprised of 201 branches across 35 out of 36 states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. It equally has nine cash centres and 200 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).
Other bridged banks owned by the corporation are Keystone Bank Limited and Enterprise Bank Limited. Mainstreet Bank was created from the ashes of the defunct Afribank Plc, while Keystone Bank and Enterprise Bank were created from the defunct Bank PHB Plc and Spring Bank Plc respectively.
The AMCON had acquired the three lenders in August 2011, after the intervention by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and the CBN.