Fidelity loses bid for Enterprise Bank as AMCON settles for HISL

It is official: HBCL Investment Services Limited (HISL), a private commercial bank, has won the for the purchase of nationalised lender Enterprise Bank, AMCON said.
HISL was selected by Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) ahead of Fidelity Bank, which was declared a reserve bidder, according to a statement by AMCON late Thursday.
AMCON had sought bidders for the sale of its 100 percent stake in Enterprise Bank, one of three banks nationalised following a $4 billion central bank bailout that saved several Nigerian lenders from near bankruptcy in 2009.
. did not give details of the agreed price of the sale.
It said Fidelity Bank had been chosen as the reserve bidder in the event the first choice HISL could not complete the transaction as agreed. The state-owned rescue bank did not elaborate on the details of the winning bid and other bids entered for the bank.
According to AMCON, the choice of followed a “rigorous and competitive bidding process” in which 24 foreign and local entities had initially shown interest. Citigroup and local investment firm Vetiva Capital had acted as advisors for the sale.
Enterprise, with over 160 branches, is the first of the three nationalised banks to be put up for sale by AMCON, which was set up to help resolve the 2009 banking crisis, triggered by reckless lending and a stock market collapse in 2008.
Afribank, Spring Bank and Bank PHB, were nationalised in 2011. AMCON then recapitalised them and changed their names to Mainstreet Bank, Enterprise Bank and Keystone Bank, respectively.
Up to early 1990s, Afribank ranked among the top four banks in Nigeria, but continued to lose grounds as a result of years of horrendous mismanagement helped by government interest in the bank.