http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201008171614098
"Tell us the name of the bidders why the secrecy? The same story over and over again, is there anything new from lord Lamido"

 
The Central Bank of Nigeria has received bids for four of the banks rescued in a $4bn bail-out last year, CBN Governor, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, told CNBC Africa television on Monday.


Sanusi said two foreign institutions were involved in the bidding process, adding that several local banks and private equity firms in partnership with foreign banks were also in the race.


”The advisers have finished analysing bids already received for four of the banks. We expect the bids for the others to have been completed by the end of this month,” Sanusi said.


The CBN was selling stakes in the 10 banks it rescued last year, when it fired top managers and injected N620bn of capital to ease a debt crisis that threatened to cripple the financial system.


Standard Bank Group Limited, FirstRand Limited and Old Mutual Plc, three of the largest financial institutions in South Africa, had said in January that they might be interested in buying stakes in the banks.


Fidelity Bank Plc and Ecobank Nigeria Plc, according to Bloomberg, also said they wanted to buy Afribank Plc.


Sanusi had also said he expected at least three international lenders, a number of private-equity firms and local lenders to submit offers by mid-July.


Speaking on the fate of the rescued banks, the Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, CBN, Dr. Kingsley Moghalu, had earlier said that the establishment of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria would further aid the recovery process of the sector because it would provide the confidence that the bad loans of the banks would be taken care of.


He was quoted as saying, ”We must understand how badly these banks were managed by the former management. It was only the entry of CBN‘s new management that enabled the CBN to see the true state of these banks.


”Nevertheless, because several of the banks are now being managed more professionally, they have started turning profit. But it will take some time and further recapitalisation in order to bring them to the ideal state. That is what the mergers and acquisitions are all about.”

Tell us the names if you have the bids indeed. Why all these shrouded information