Polaris Bank – Former Skye Bank – Up For Sale

Polaris Bank, formerly known as Skye Bank, will be put up for sale by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, immediately after the 2019 general elections.

The Spokesman of AMCON, Jude Nwauzor, in a statement, disclosed that the 2019 electioneering activities have delayed and slowed things down.

He said “The election season has slowed down things. We would advertise for expressions of interest from investors after elections and commence the sale process.”

“The capitalisation of Polaris Bank Limited is being done by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria through the injection of about N786 billion to return the bank to soundness and profitability so as to enable its subsequent sale to credible and financially sound third-party acquirers.”

He further said “The strategy is for the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) to capitalise the Polaris Bank and begin the process of sourcing investors to buy out.”

Speaking on plans to sell Polaris bank, Nwauzor said the corporation is already working on recovering the non-performing loans owed to Polaris and that AMCON has asked for repayment proposals.

Recall that in September 2018, Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, had announced the revoking of the licence of defunct Skye Bank. Polaris was established as a bridge bank to assume the assets and liabilities of the bank. It was then transferred to the state-owned bank for sale to investors. AMCON has previously sold three other nationalised banks.

Godwin Emefiele had also noted that the CBN invested about N800billion in Polaris Bank, and as such, the bank’s name had to change in order to reflect the new ownership structure.

AMCON was set up in 2010 to absorb non-performing loans from banks as part of efforts to resolve a financial crisis at that time.

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