The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and AMCON have disclosed the culmination of the sale of shares in Polaris Bank to Strategic Capital Investment Limited (SCIL).
The CBN verified this in a press release on its website on Thursday, October 20, 2002.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) are pleased to announce the completion of a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) for the acquisition of 100% of the equity in Polaris Bank (‘Polaris’ or ‘the Bank’) by Strategic Capital Investment Limited (‘SCIL’).“ It announced.
The apex bank disclosed that SCIL has paid the upfront of N50 billion and in accepting the terms will repay fully the sum of N1.305 trillion being the consideration bonds injected by the CBN.
Whilst, the bank was sold for N50 billion, the repayment of N1.3 trillion means the bank will have to pay Polaris Bank about N52 billion a year in redeeming the bonds raised by AMCON.
For the bank to repay the loans they will have to generate profits above N60 billion.
The confirmation of the sale of the bank to Strategic Capital Investment Limited is happening after denials by Polaris Bank that a sale was being consummated by the apex bank and AMCON. Just this August, Polaris Bank issued a statement denying any sale and characterizing it as “speculative”.