Share

FirstRand drops bid for Nigerian bank

Johannesburg - FirstRand [JSE:FSR], South Africa's second-largest banking group, said it has dropped acquisition talks with Nigeria's Sterling Bank after failing to agree on terms for the deal.
 
FirstRand said on Friday it had terminated talks to acquire a majority stake in Sterling Bank, which has about 99 branches in Africa’s most populous nation.
 
“The parties have been unable to agree to mutually acceptable terms,” FirstRand said.
 
South African lenders are keen to expand in fast-growing Nigeria, although the process so far has had plenty of hurdles. Nigeria in 2009 injected $4bn into nine lenders, deemed by auditors to have become so weakly capitalised that they posed a threat to the entire country’s banking system.
 
Sterling Bank, which has a market value of around $177m, was one of the lenders that passed the 2009 special audit.
 
FirstRand, which has said it is looking to invest “meaningful amounts of capital” in oil-rich Nigeria, said it still believes the country will be a key market for its Africa expansion strategy.
 
FirstRand shares were down 1.6% in Friday midday, trade while shares of Sterling Bank were little changed.
We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
18.93
-0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.91
-0.1%
Rand - Euro
20.44
+0.1%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.34
+0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.1%
Platinum
906.59
+1.1%
Palladium
1,012.66
+1.1%
Gold
2,221.01
+1.2%
Silver
24.85
+0.9%
Brent-ruolie
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
68,346
+1.0%
All Share
74,536
+0.9%
Resource 10
57,251
+2.9%
Industrial 25
103,936
+0.6%
Financial 15
16,502
-0.1%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders