Fidelity Bank completes takeover of Union Bank UK
Fidelity Bank has consummated its acquisition of the United Kingdom’s subsidiary of rival Union Bank, a deal first announced in August 2022.
The buyout allows Fidelity Bank, which is aspiring to join the league of Tier 1 lenders in Nigeria, to expand beyond its base. It also draws the curtain behind Union Bank’s operations in the UK reaching back to 1983.
Fidelity Bank has received the approval of the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulatory Authority for the change of control of Union Bank UK Plc (UBUK), the lender said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Central Bank of Nigeria approved the transaction last year, issuing it a letter of “No Objection.”
“The acquisition of UBUK is in furtherance of Fidelity Bank’s strategic initiatives on international expansion,” the statement said.
“The board of directors of the bank is confident that the acquisition will unlock significant value for the Fidelity Bank Group and is taking action to ensure the seamless integration of the operations of both entities,” the document added.
In April, the lender announced it received two applications from investors to buy 3.04 billion of its shares via private placement in transactions summing up to N14 billion.
It is also on course to raise fresh capital by way of public offering and rights issue. While 10 billion shares are planned to be offered for sale through a public offer, 3.2 billion shares are to be offered to existing shareholders through the rights issue.
When the capital raise is over, the outstanding shares of the bank are set to rise by 46 per cent.
Fidelity Bank’s profit for the first half of the year more than doubled to N46.7 billion, after gross earnings hit N337 billion, 34.4 per cent higher than what it reported for the corresponding period of last year.