Keystone Bank Limited successfully divested from Orient Bank Limited, its Ugandan subsidiary.A statement from the bank by its head of brand and communications, Omobolanle Osotule, explained that the lender’s 80 percent stake was acquired by the erstwhile minority shareholders as part of a consortium led by 8Miles LLP, an Africa-focused private equity fund.
Keystone Bank had earlier obtained the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to conclude the divestment in order to focus on its growing share in the domestic market.Vetiva Capital was the transaction advisors while the firm of Okagbue and Ikoli were solicitors to the transaction.Philip Ikeazor, the Keystone Bank managing sirector/CEO, had hinted on the planned divestment from the African subsidiaries last year while fielding questions from journalists at a media parley.
The divestment is coming after the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) plans to begin the sale of Keystone Bank, the biggest of three lenders nationalised after a 2009 financial crisis, in the second quarter after general elections.
“We chose to start in the second quarter to allow for elections to come and go,” Mustafa Chike-Obi, chief executive officer of state-owned AMCON, told Bloomberg by phone on January. “By that time everything has returned to normal.”The sale will be transparent and AMCON will call for bids with a selection process lasting three to four months and ending this year, Chike-Obi said.
READ ALSO: #EndSARS protest: Aba indigenes lament looting and destruction of properties in area
