Major South African bank gets new owner

Bidvest has entered into an agreement to sell its banking business to Access Bank for around R2.8 billion.

Bidvest informed shareholders on Thursday, 12 December, that it has agreed to sell 100% of Bidvest Bank Holdings to Access Bank.

This comes after Bidvest announced earlier this year that, following a portfolio review, it made a significant strategic decision to dispose of Bidvest Bank and FinGlobal.

When it first announced its plans to dispose of Bidvest Bank, the group said it had determined the financial services division to be outside of its core competencies.

“The opportunity to facilitate a step-change in value-creation for all stakeholders does not arise often,” CEO Mpumi Madisa said.

On Thursday, the company announced that it has found a buyer – Access Bank – and expects the deal to be concluded by the end of its current financial year.

Access Bank is a leading full-service commercial bank with over 60 million customers globally, serviced through a network of over 700 branches in 23 countries across three continents.

It has a strong presence in Nigeria, 16 subsidiaries in Africa, the United Kingdom and representative offices in China, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, India and France. Access Bank employs over 8,400 people. 

“As a diversified financial institution, it combines a strong retail customer franchise and digital platform with deep corporate banking experience to service various markets through four business segments: retail, business, commercial and corporate,” Bidvest explained.

“Access Bank has proven risk and capital management capabilities.”

Access Bank has been operating in South Africa since 2021, following its acquisition of Grobank. 

“In South Africa, the strategy has expanded to align with the vision of becoming the gateway to Africa and the world’s most respected African bank.”

Bidvest further revealed that the Disposal price is approximately R2.8 billion. This will be used to settle existing Bidvest debt. 

“Bidvest’s management expects the regulatory approvals to take six months to achieve, implying an expected effective date before the end of the current financial year,” it said.

“Bidvest will continue to support Bidvest Bank to ensure that it remains financially sound and operationally stable throughout the disposal process.”

The company also announced that it has concluded an agreement to dispose of 100% of FinGlobal to Momentum. 

“FinGlobal’s unique financial emigration solutions offered to South African expatriates will benefit from the scale and complementary capabilities of the acquirer,” the company said. 

“All employees will be retained as part of the transaction. Regulatory approvals form the key conditions precedent required to finalise this transaction.”