There were strong indications Wednesday night that in line with the terms of the Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) for the acquisition of Enterprise Bank Limited, Heritage Bank Limited paid the outstanding 80 per cent of the N56 billion it offered for the bridged bank.

THISDAY gathered from a reliable source that Heritage Bank transferred the money into the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria’s (AMCON’s) escrow account at First Bank of Nigeria Limited, which was created temporarily for the transaction.

The balance of 80 per cent is N44.8 billion. The bid price for Enterprise Bank was put at N56 billion and Heritage Bank had made the initial 20 per cent (N11.2 billion) which paved the way for the signing of the SPA.

The deadline for the payment elapsed last night.
However, when contacted on the telephone, AMCON’s Head of Corporate Communications, Mr. Kayode Lambo could not confirm the payment, saying Heritage Bank had till 12 midnight today to make the payment.

“I can’t confirm the payment yet but I can tell you that Heritage Bank had till 12 midnight,” he said

THISDAY also gathered from another source that AMCON had requested that the transition from Enterprise Bank to Heritage Bank should be done 15 days from Thursday.

That is, all Enterprise Bank branches across the country are expected to be rebranded in the next 15 days.

According to the source, the Heritage Bank raised the fund from multiple sources both internally and externally.

AMCON had on September 11 announced HBCL Investment Services Limited (HISL), a special purpose vehicle (SPV) sponsored by Heritage Bank, as the preferred bidder for Enterprise Bank.

AMCON had explained that the process started with interest shown by 24 parties cutting across local and international boundaries. The emergence of HISL as preferred bidder had resulted from a rigorous and competitive bidding process, which was coordinated for AMCON by Citigroup Global Markets Limited, Vetiva Capital Management Limited (Financial Advisers) and G. Elias & Co. (Legal Advisers).

Heritage Bank commenced operations in March 2013. The deposit money bank was formed from the defunct Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria (SGBN) and was granted a regional banking licence by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

On commencement of business, its shareholding structure was 80 per cent core investor, nine per cent legacy bank, and 11 per cent of depositors’ funds.

Managing/Chief Executive Officer, Heritage Bank, Mr. Ifie Sekibo, had assured stakeholders of the bank that the financial institution would ensure that the transaction is completed before the expiration of the deadline.

ThisDay