Fidelity Bank completes acquisition of Union Bank UK
By Seun Ibiyemi
Fidelity Bank Plc has announced the completion of the acquisition of a 100 per cent stake in Union Bank Plc on Wednesday.
This was disclosed via a press release statement sent to Nigeria Exchange Limited (NGX).
Fidelity Bank had disclosed that following the completion of the acquisition of Union Bank UK, it would expand into five African countries via acquisition.
CEO of Fidelity Bank, Mrs Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe said, “The strategy is for us to move our footprint outside Nigeria and be able to compete favourably with our peers. In the next three years, we should be able to be in six countries by doing at least two every year.”
In August 2022, Fidelity Bank announced its proposed acquisition of Union Bank UK as part of its expansion plans.
In a regulatory filing issued on the Nigeria Exchange (NGX) on Tuesday, 30 August 2022, the bank stated that it had entered into a binding agreement for the acquisition of 100 per cent equity stake in Union Bank United Kingdom Limited, for which the Central Bank of Nigeria has issued a letter of “No Objection.”
The transaction was however subject to the approval of the United Kingdom’s Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA).
Commenting on the transaction, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Fidelity Bank Plc, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe stated, “This transaction aligns with our strategic plan of expanding our service touchpoints beyond the Nigerian market and providing straight-through services that meet and exceed the needs of our growing clients.”
The acquisition of Union Bank marks Fidelity Bank’s first foray into the international market and signals yet another milestone in the bank’s increasing profile as a leading African bank.
It would be recalled that renowned ratings agency, Fitch Ratings recently upgraded the bank’s long-term issuer default rating (IDR) from ‘B-’ to ‘B,’ reflecting the bank’s increased creditworthiness as well as its National Long-Term Rating to ‘A(nga)’ from ‘BBB+(nga).’
Standard and Poor’s, another global ratings agency also upgraded the bank’s national scale ratings to ‘ngBBB/ngA-22 from ‘ngBBB-/ngA-3’ in recognition of its resilience and performance through the cycle.
“The diverse service bouquet and business model of Union Bank UK offered a compelling synergy, and we hope to build on the existing capacity to create a scalable and more sustaining service franchise that will support the wider ecosystem of our trade businesses and diaspora banking services,” Onyeali-Ikpe explained.
