Sterling Bank Plc said that the outcome of its ongoing merger talks with Ecobank Nigeria Plc would be made public in April. Mr Yemi Adeola, the Managing Director of Sterling Bank Plc, revealed this while fielding questions from newsmen in Lagos. Adeola said that the two banks had concluded due diligence of their assets, human capital and operations among others.

The successful merger of the two banks would increase the capital base of the emerging bank to about N250 billion.

Adeola said that the due diligence, which took three months to accomplish, was undertaken by the accounting firms of Akintola Williams Deloitte and Ernest and Young for Sterling Bank and Ecobank Nigeria Plc respectively He said Afrinvest had been contracted by Sterling Bank for valuation purposes, while IBTC Chartered Bank would handle it for Ecobank. Adeola expressed high optimism about the success of the merger talks but was quick to add that the issues would be professionally handled in case of failure.

According to him, the factors that made the merger imperative are Ecobank African flavour and Sterling Bank’s strong foundation in investment banking. “We are propelled in the merger discussions by our desire to build an enduring institution that will create wealth for the continent and shareholders of the banks.
“As banks that understand and appreciate the import of the second phase of consolidation, Sterling and Ecobank hope to use merger to align with globalisation while asserting themselves in terms of size and growth,” he said. Adeola said his bank had painfully cleaned its books of non performing loans inherited from the five legacy banks that merged to form the bank.

To him, Sterling Bank had pursued a moderate and sustainable growth stressing that “as an institution that took 23 institutions to the capital market, accessing that market for development seed funds remains an option for us.” Adeola said Sterling Bank’s successful post consolidation business strategy was to de-emphasis profit and focus more on integration. He said that the bank had also taken steps to lay a solid operational foundation for the challenges of the local and global banking industry. According to him, the bank’s strength at present lies in investment banking, trade finance and consumer banking.