With the complete takeover of Mainstreet Bank on January 27, 2015, analysts believe Skye Bank Plc has positioned itself as one of the largest in terms of branch network, thereby bringing confidence to the bank’s customers and investors.
With this feat, Skye Bank which is known for its dominant operations in the Southwest will also take advantage of Mainstreet Bank to deepen its penetration of the South-East and South-South regions where it is currently less represented.
And with the total transfer of the ownership after 100 percent payment, the bank’s on-going seamless integration Skye Bank will be able to make valuable in-roads into these two regions without the need to incur huge expenditure while the acquisition would bring valuable concurrence and synergies from the mutual focus areas of commercial and retail banking of the two entities in a larger Skye Bank.
Mainstreet Bank which has a profile of a large pool of loyal institutional and corporate customers, which in spite of its status as an AMCON-owned bank, ensured that the bank’s retained almost its two million customers after the takeover, has proved to be a positive buy for its new owners.
While transferring the bank to its owners, chairman of AMCON, Alhaji Kola Belgore disclosed that the bridge bank(Mainstreet) had been restored to financial solvency, stating that Mainstreet Bank’s profit at the end of December 2014 stood at N13 billion.
Speaking on the occasion, Group Managing Director of Skye Bank Plc, owners of Mainstreet Bank, Mr. Timothy Oguntayo, said the bank saw value and synergies in the acquired bank and promised to harness and optimize the value.
Oguntayo also thanked the Board of AMCON, CBN and the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, for conducting a transparent process that led to the selection of the bid winners for the bank and for granting all the required clearance and approvals that paved the way for the acquisition and eventual takeover.
