N5bn Recapitalisation: First Pension To Acquire Access Bank’s Pension Subsidiary

Access Bank Plc has reached an agreement to sell the entire shares in its subsidiary, Access Pensions Fund Custodian Limited.

The holding company said First Bank subsidiary, First Pension Custodian Nigeria Ltd are the buyers.

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According to Access, the transaction has been approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria and pensions regulator, the National Pension Commission.

“Access Holdings Plc announces today that its subsidiary, Access Bank Plc (“Access Bank”), has entered into a definitive agreement with First Pension Custodian Nigeria Limited (“First Pension”) regarding a proposed purchase by First Pension of the entire share capital of Access Pension Fund Custodian Limited held by Access Bank,” Access posted on the Nigerian Exchange Ltd on Wednesday.

The development is coming in the wake of the concluded consolidation of Pension Fund Administrators by PenCom which requires a Minimum Regulatory Capital (Shareholders’ Fund) of N5bn from N1bn.

PenCom had approved the recapitalisation exercise for the PFAs with a 12-month transition period from 27 April 2021 to 27 April 2022.

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“The exercise became expedient as the value of pension fund assets under
management and custody had grown exponentially by 244 percent, from N3trn in 2012 (when the previous recapitalisation was done) to N12.29trn (as at December 31, 2020),” PenCom said.

The commission said the N5bn requirement was met by 10 PFAs as at 31 December 2021, while the others intensified efforts to meet the deadline of 27 April 2022.

“This resulted in some mergers and acquisitions, which led to the reduction of the number of PFAs from 22 to 20,” PenCom said.

AIICO Pension Managers Limited was acquired by FCMB Pensions Limited; and the merger between Tangerine Pensions Limited and APT Pension Funds Managers Limited.

Also, Norrenberger’s acquired IEI-Anchor Pension Managers Limited, after its acquisition of the majority shareholder, IEI Plc.

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