AMCON announces Heritage Bank as new owner of Enterprise Bank

The Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has announced Heritage Banking Company Limited as the successful bidder for Enterprise Bank.

The development came fifteen months after the bid for the sale of Enterprise Bank, formerly Spring Bank, opened.

Insiders had informed this newspaper that it was on a matter of few days before Heritage Bank was declared winner.

When DailyPost contacted the Communications Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on Tuesday, an official said he could not confirm the new owner of the bridge bank.

“The Director has asked me to reply your enquiry concerning the acquisition of Enterprise Bank. We believe AMCON will make a public announcement on this soon, so please let’s not speculate. We all look forward just like you,” the official said in a phone chat.

Repeated enquiries to AMCON media desk were not replied.

The corporation in a statement obtained by DailyPost on Friday said Heritage Bank, former Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria, had emerged as the preferred bidder over Fidelity Bank and 22 other interested investors.

The amount involved was not disclosed.

Heritage Bank bought the bank under its investment subsidiary, HBCL Investment Services Limited and would now acquire the entire issue and fully paid up ordinary shares of Enterprise Bank Limited, following the approval of the board of directors of AMCON.

However, the completion of the deal is subject to the execution of the share purchase agreement between AMCON and HISL and in the event that HISL cannot fulfill its side of the deal, Fidelity Bank as the reserve bidder would step in as the preferred bidder.

The statement by AMCON noted that the emergence of HISL and Fidelity Bank as the preferred and reserve bidders respectively resulted from a rigorous and competitive bidding process, coordinated by its financial and legal advisers, Citigroup Global Markets Limited and Vetiva Capital Management Limited and G. Elias & Co.

Enterprise Bank commenced operation in August, 2011, as a full-service commercial bank with a national banking license, after it was nationalized and acquired by AMCON.

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.