Skye Bank completes payment for Mainstreet

Skye Bank Plc says it has announced the full payment of the 80 per cent balance of its purchase price for Mainstreet Bank.

This is in fulfilment of the major requirement for its acquisition of 100 per cent shares of the bank from the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria.

The last tranche of the money for the acquisition was paid to AMCON on Friday, October 31 ahead of the November 3 deadline, the bank said in a statement.

The 80 per cent balance payment was made to AMCON in fulfilment of the share sale and purchase agreement earlier signed by both AMCON and Skye Bank.

Skye Bank had on October 9, 2014, paid the mandatory deposit of 20 per cent for the acquisition of Mainstreet Bank, with a pledge to complete the 80 per cent balance payment within the agreed time frame.

AMCON had in October announced Skye Bank as the preferred bidder for the acquisition of all its interest in the Mainstreet Bank, representing the entire capital of the bridge bank.

Skye Bank emerged the preferred bidder after a bidding exercise that spanned five months, and involved 20 bidders. Cedar One Investment Partners Limited emerged as the first reserve bidder and Fidelity Bank Plc as the second reserve bidder for the acquisition.

The acquisition of Mainstreet Bank is part of Skye Bank’s strategic plan for growth, according to the statement.

Skye Bank emerged from the merger and integration of five banks in 2006, following the first phase of the banking industry consolidation.

The bank intends to leverage its wealth of experience from the successful integration of five banks to drive efficiency, increase market share and ultimately ramp up stakeholder value from the acquisition of Mainstreet Bank, the statement said.

The lender said the acquisition would avail it many benefits, including cost leadership, business optimisation, and greater ability to offer business convenience to its teeming retail and commercial customers, with a combined branch network of over 450, across all the states of the federation.

Skye Bank, a leading tier 2 bank in Nigeria, was among the eight banks recently designated as ‘Systemically Important Banks’, which reflected its industry leadership, strong market share, diverse location spread, and strong brand equity.

The management of Skye Bank assured the customers of Mainstreet Bank of excellent service and superior value in the enlarged Skye Bank, the statement said.

AMCON, which was created after the banking crisis of 2009, recently began the sale of the three bridge banks, namely Enterprise Bank, Mainstreet Bank and Keystone Bank, which assumed the assets and liabilities of three nationalised banks.

Heritage Bank had in October completed payment for the acquisition of Enterprise Bank, while Keystone Bank will be sold next year.