BY PETER EGWUATU, WITH AGENCY REPORT
The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has declared that two banks bailed out by apex bank in 2009 have signed accords to receive more capital, either through mergers or acquisitions, and four others are close to signing takeover agreements.

Sanusi

Reuters quoted Sanusi as having said in London, “I can confirm that two banks have signed memorandum of understanding, I’m just not able to disclose their names because we do have an approval waiting from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)usi One signed almost two weeks ago and one signed on Thursday.

We have two that are ready to sign in the next week or two,” and two others that are also close to signing”.

The transactions are part of plans by the Central Bank of Nigeria to recapitalize the banking system after the industry neared collapse following a debt crisis. The central bank fired the chief executives of eight of the country’s 24 banks and bailed out the industry with 620 billion naira ($4 billion).

Nine Nigerian lenders were in a “grave situation” and one was undercapitalized after the crisis, said Sanusi. Since then, Wema Bank Plc  and Unity Bank Plc  have fixed their problems, he said.

“While the banks have signed accords and four others are close to signing, agreements with another two lenders have been held up by “thorny issues,” Sanusi said. The other two banks in financial trouble are  “very tiny” and “frankly are not causing us too much concern,” he said.

Nigeria’s banking industry will have as many as eight mergers in the “near future,” most of them within weeks, Deputy Governor Kingsley Moghalu said on Feb. 22.

It has already been reported that at least four of the 10 banks that failed the central bank’s 2009 audit will sign buyout accords with investors before the end February, 2011.

Vine Capital as reported by some media will sign an agreement to buy Afribank Nigeria Plc , Access Bank will  invest in Intercontinental Bank Plc, while First Bank of Nigeria Plc will take a stake in Oceanic Bank International Plc.  First City Monument Bank Plc plans to invest in Finbank Plc, Capital Alliance will sign an agreement with Union Bank of Nigeria Plc.

It was also gathered that Asset Management Corp. of Nigeria, AMCON is seeking approval from the Central Bank to start the second phase of its program to buy bad debts from banks, Chief Executive Officer Mustapha Chike_Obi said on February 22, 2011.

AMCON, last December 2010 signed debt purchase agreements with 21 of Nigeria’s 24 banks and issued 1.04 trillion naira ($6.8 billion) of so_called consideration bonds that are not tradable to buy non_performing loans from them.