The process of selling Mainstreet Bank and Enterprise Bank,
two of the three nationalised banks owned by the Federal Government, will be
completed on or before September 15 this year, the Chief Executive Officer,
Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, Mr. Mustafa Chike-Obi, disclosed in an
exclusive interview with our correspondent on Monday.
Chike-Obi also insisted that there would be no extension of
the timeline given for prospective investors in Mainstreet Bank to submit their
Expression of Interest, which will expire on May 16.
Some prospective investors and stakeholders in the defunct
Afribank Plc, which later transmuted to Mainstreet Bank, had on Monday
reportedly criticised AMCON for giving only one-week notice to those who were
interested in bidding for the bank to submit their EOI.
They said while they were in agreement with AMCON on the
need to move ownership of the bridged banks from government control to the
private sector, the process should be well streamlined, well publicised and
should be allowed enough time to be examined by all interested parties.
But Chike-Obi told our correspondent that one week was
enough for any serious-minded prospective investors to submit their EOI, adding
that the bad debt manager would complete the sale of Enterprise and Mainstreet
Bank by September 15.
The AMCON CEO said, “We will complete the sale of both
Enterprise and Mainstreet banks by September 15. Enterprise will be completed
before that date, but both banks will definitely be completed by September 15.
Out of over 30 investors that submitted EOI for Enterprise Bank, seven have
been approved and cleared, and those seven investors are doing due diligence on
the bank, and this will last for six weeks.
“For those clamouring that one week is not enough for them
to submit their EOI, I want to ask you who are these people you are talking
about? What is their name? These are groups of people who want to quickly go
and put some books together. Let me tell you that some banks have been waiting
for the sale of Mainstreet for a long time. And we have announced a very long
time ago that we will sell these banks. What have they been doing? I can tell
you that for any serious investor, two days is enough to submit your EOI.
“What is EOI? EOI is simply to tell us who you are and who
constitute your management team. Just let us know you; that is all. Then, those
who are approved will now be given six weeks to go and do due diligence on the
banks. We are not saying you will do due diligence within one week, no. So the
timetable is not changing even regarding the EOI.”
Chike-Obi said the submission of EOI for Mainstreet Bank
was the preliminary stage, reiterating that successful bidders would have the
chance to examine the bank for six weeks.
For Keystone Bank, the AMCON boss said it would be sold
next year, ruling out the possibility of selling it this year.
According to him, the sale of Mainstreet Bank will be
faster because lessons learnt from the process of selling Enterprise are being
taken into consideration.
He said a situation where traders from Onitsha submitted
EOI to buy Enterprise Bank was one of the lessons learnt in the sales process.
The CBN had in 2011 revoked the operating licences of
Afribank, Spring Bank and Bank PHB for not showing enough capacity and ability
for recapitalisation.
In their place, the CBN through the Nigerian Deposit
Insurance Corporation established bridge banks and transferred the assets and
liabilities of the three affected banks to the bridge banks.
The bridge banks are Enterprise Bank Limited (formerly
Spring Bank Plc); Mainstreet Bank Limited (Afribank Plc); and Keystone Bank
Limited (Bank PHB Plc).
A bridge bank is a temporary institution organised by
the regulators to administer the deposits and liabilities of a failed bank.
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