Analysts See looming M&A after CBNâs FBN Holdings Board Rejig
FBN Board changes has continued to generating reactions as breakdown in governance code came as surprise to industryâs analysts, especially investment bankers who found the board room game dirty.
Reacting to the recent change by the Central Bank of Nigeria, Chapel Hill Denham said it has raised its risk-rate on FBN Holdings, noting that merger and acquisition (M&A) is actually possible in the near term due to the dirty board room game that backfired on disengaged Board members.
In the next 12-18 months, analysts at Chapel Hill Denham opened up that M&A is possible given the weaknesses in the capital adequacy ratio and non-performing loan ratios, in breach of acceptable prudential standards of the CBN.
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It was meant to be a master stroke that would secure the bank permanently under their armpit, boost their ego and keep their antagonists at bay, but the sacking of Dr Adesola Adeduntan, First Bank Managing Director, by the bank’s board members, turned out to be their undoing as they underestimated the capacity and resolve of those they were dealing with.
The attempt to remove Adeduntan earned them a sack from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as the board was dissolved, while Adeduntan was reinstated. The drama started the day after the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of its holding company, FBN Holdings Plc, on Tuesday April 27. At the AGM, First Bank, the commercial banking arm of the Group, headed by Dr Adeduntan, posted gross earnings of ₦539.0billion, total assets of ₦7.4trillion and profit after tax of ₦67.8billion. The performance was considered good enough by the shareholders because the arm made significant contribution to the fortunes of the Group.
Honeywell Flour Mills, a food and agro-allied company, says it will continue to repay its credit facility to First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) based on agreed terms.
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On Wednesday, the bank
First Bank said Adeduntan will be leaving the position in accordance with the bank’s term limit for its chief executives, after leading the bank since January 2016.
But in a letter dated April 28 and addressed to Ibukun Awosika, the chairman of First Bank, the CBN said the tenure of Adeduntan was yet to expire (MDs of banks have a maximum tenure of 10 years).
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“The CBN was not made aware of any report from the board indicting the managing director of any wrong-doing or misconduct; there appears to be no apparent justification for the precipitate removal,” the letter signed by Haruna Mustafa, CBN’s director of banking supervision, read.
Vanguard News
FG awards section 2 of Apapa/Oshodi expressway
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By Godfrey Bivbere
THERE are indications that the Federal Government has awarded the contract for the construction of section two of the Apapa–Oshodi expressway stretching from Sunrise to Cele bus stop. Recall that the section of the road have not been attended to in the last couple of years because the Federal Government was yet to award it to any company for reconstruction.
Speaking with Vanguard Maritime Report on the situation of the section of the road, Team Lead, Bulk Truck Operations of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, Isreal Ogundiran, said with the first section from Liverpool to Sunrise almost completed, the award of the second section is a welcome development.