Nigeria biggest financial institution, Access Bank PlC is set to entered into a definitive and binding agreement with ABC Holdings Limited to acquire 78.15 per cent shareholding in fifth largest bank in Botswana, (BancABC Botswana). The deal is expected to close before the end of the second quarter.
ABC Holdings is a subsidiary of London Stock Exchange listed group – Atlas Mara Limited.
Recently, Access Bank bought a controlling stake in South Africa’s Grobank for around $60 million, becoming first Nigerian lender to venture into South Africa. It has also struck recent deals in Zambia and Mozambique.
The bank hopes to muster 30 per cent of profit for this year from outside its base Nigeria, and break into eight countries in Africa, from Morocco to Angola, that have been marked down as markets of significant promise.
The establishment of Access Bank through this acquisition in the Republic of Botswana will position the bank to deliver a more complete set of banking solutions to its clients active in and across the SADC and COMESA regions.
Access bank has been perennially profitable, given an existing high-quality retail loan book with opportunities and scope for diversification and further expansion into corporate and SME lending.
