Access Holdings to acquire majority stake in First Guarantee Pension Limited
Access Holdings Plc, the parent company of Access Bank Plc, has announced plans to acquire a majority equity stake in FBN Holding’s pension subsidiary, First Guarantee Pension Limited.
This is happening after its divestment from its own pension business.
The Group, according to a disclosure filed with the exchange (NGX), has entered into an agreement with the company regarding the potential acquisition of a majority equity stake in the company.
This transaction is pivotal in the Group’s plan to evolve from a narrow banking business to a financial service holding company positioned to gain relevant scale across Africa, global monetary centres and “beyond-banking verticals”.
Speaking on the transaction, Group CEO of Access Corporation, Dr. Herbert Wigwe said, “This transaction is a natural evolution for us. Over the last 20 years, we set our sights on and delivered ambitious plans to transform the African financial services landscape focusing on banking and have created the African leading bank and largest bank by customer base.
“This large customer base both on the wholesale and retail segments makes the pension business a natural fit for the corporation given its objective of ecosystem optimization.”
“We will leverage our well-established culture of strong corporate governance, risk management, cutting-edge technology, and digital capabilities to deliver high standards of professionalism in the management of pension assets to the benefit of our stakeholders,” he added.
The notice said the National Pension Commission and the Central Bank of Nigeria had given their “no objection” to the transaction, the completion of which is subject to the receipt of all required regulatory approval.
Access Holdings Plc recently announced that its subsidiary, Access Bank Plc, has entered into a definitive agreement with First Pension Custodian Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of First Bank Nig Holdings Plc.
The agreement is regarding a proposed purchase by First Pensions of the entire share capital of Access Pension Fund Custodian Limited held by Access Bank Plc.