Africa-Press – South-Africa. The sale of Bidvest Bank to Nigerian-based Access Bank has fallen through due to the deal’s conditions not being met.
Bidvest Bank is a full-service bank that offers foreign exchange, fleet, business and personal financial products.
In December 2024, Access Bank agreed to acquire 100% of Bidvest Bank Holdings Limited’s share capital for R2.8 billion.
Access Bank has over 60 million customers globally and a network of 700 branches across 23 countries on three continents. It is the largest lender in Africa.
The deal would allow Bidvest to focus on its other operations, with the proceeds used to settle its existing debt.
However, in an update to shareholders, Bidvest noted that the sale of the bank included customary conditions precedent, including regulatory approvals.
The parties had been actively working together to secure approvals. However, Access Bank did not fulfil certain conditions by the agreed long-stop date.
This has resulted in the termination of the R2.8 billion transaction.
“The considered rationale behind the original Bidvest Financial Services division’s restructure and disposal decision remains a strategic imperative,” said the group.
“Bidvest has now relaunched the disposal process. We remain confident in our ability to successfully execute this disposal and will endeavour to accelerate transaction timeframes.”
Bidvest reinstated the bank as a sole shareholder and said it will continue to support the bank to ensure it remains financially sound and operationally stable during this transition period.
It noted that the bank remains well capitalised, with all key ratios above the minimum regulatory hurdles.
“The well-being of employees and maintaining high-quality service standards for all clients remain priorities,” the group said.
A sale is coming
While the sale of Bidvest Bank has fallen through, the group has agreed to dispose of 100% of Bidvest Life to a private-equity-led financial services consortium.
Key conditions are still precedent, including regulatory approvals, which are required to finalise this transaction, and all parties are working toward achieving these.
Bidvest Bank and Bidvest Life will thus still continue to be disclosed as a Disposal Group held for sale in the company’s financial statements, which was the case for the financial year ended June 2025.
The disposals do not meet the requirements for a categorised transaction under the JSE’s listing requirements, and the information disclosed is voluntary.
Bidvest previously sold FinGlobal Migration, a company focused on South African emigrants, to Momentum for R200 million, as per its move away from financial services.
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