Oceanic, PHB, 3 Others May Be Sold In August – Sanusi

PHOTO: CENTRAL BANK GOVERNOR LAMIDO SANUSI.

San Francisco, June 28, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s bailed out lenders, who were rescued during the financial crisis may be sold in August, Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi said in an interview with Bloomberg in Basel, Switzerland.

Sanusi said he expects three foreign banks, a couple of private equity firms and local lenders to submit bids for the eight rescued banks by August.

"We’ve got three international banks that have remained in the serious running to acquire banks.

"There’s also a number of local banks and private equity firms. By the middle of August we should actually have clear visibility on at least five of the banks," Sanusi said.

Sanusi added that Oceanic Bank, Bank PHB, Intercontinental, AfriBank and Union Bank which gulped most of the $4.1 billion dollar bail out dough are "systematically important" to Nigeria and that explains why their stability is priority.

Some of the bailed out banks surprisingly recorded pre-tax profits in Q1.

Both chambers of the National Assembly recently approved the creation of an asset management agency to mop up non-performing assets from the balance sheets of bailed out banks.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan will in July assent to a bill that will create the Asset Management Corp. of Nigeria, (AMCON), a government entity that will buy bad debts from the banking sector, using funds raised through government-guaranteed local bond issuance.