A Nigerian High Court has given go-ahead for the duo of Access Bank and Diamond Bank to merge.
It would be recalled that the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, gave its approval on the merger earlier this week.
Access-Diamond Bank said in a joint statement that:
Having received the Final Approval of Central Bank of Nigeria and the Securities & Exchange Commission to the proposed Merger between Access Bank Plc and Diamond Bank Plc – following the approval of shareholders that was obtained at the respective Court-Ordered Meetings held on March 5, 2019 – Access Bank hereby confirms that the Court Sanction of the Merger was obtained today, Tuesday March 19, 2019.
“Accordingly, and as had been indicated in the Scheme Document, the Effective Date of the Merger is March 19, 2019,” the bank said.
According to the terms of the merger released by Access Bank, Diamond Bank was valued at approximately N72.5 billion (~$200m) Diamond Bank shareholders received NGN3.13 per share in cash and shares.
The merger will create the largest bank in Nigeria with an asset base estimated at N6.1 trillion with a total deposit base of N3.5 trillion.
While Diamond Bank was a tier two lender, Access Bank was a tier one lender with total assets estimated at N4 trillion.
