By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s central bank said on Friday that it had agreed the sale of 100% equity in Polaris Bank to Strategic Capital Investment and that the new investors had made a 50 billion naira ($114.65 million) upfront payment for the acquisition.
The central bank revoked the licence of the former Skye Bank and established Polaris Bank in 2018 to assume its assets and certain liabilities after shoring up the mid-tier lender in 2016 with a capital injection.
It later injected bonds worth 1.305 trillion naira to be repaid over a 25-year period to prevent the imminent collapse of the bank.
The central bank said on Friday that three bidders emerged out of 25 who submitted proposals to acquire Polaris, from state-backed “bad bank” AMCON.
Skye’s problems started after it used short-term funds to buy local lender Mainstreet Bank in 2014 but failed to raise fresh cash.
It had been in talks with shareholders and investors to raise capital, but it suspended those plans after foreign investors fled due to weak oil prices.
Polaris has been run by central bank-appointed management, after the previous management were sacked for failing to meet minimum capital requirements.
($1 = 436.1100 naira)
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Alexander Winning)
