IBTC Chartered Bank Plc and Stanbic Bank (Nigeria) Limited have received approvals by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Nigerian Stock Exchange in respect of the proposed merger.

Apart from the proposed merger, Stanbic Africa Holdings Limited which is the parent company of Stanbic Bank Nigeria and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Standard Bank Group Limited has made a tender offer for the acquisition of additional IBTC shares. In accordance with the laid down procedures for transactions of this nature, applications for regulatory approvals were filed with the CBN, SEC, and NSE.

A statement by the IBTC on Saturday said that all these agencies had granted their approval in principle and the Scheme of Merger and Tender Offer document had been cleared by SEC.

The transaction will involve the merger of IBTC and Stanbic Nigeria, following which SAHL shareholding in the enlarged IBTC shall be 33.33 per cent (that is 6.25 billion new IBTC shares are to be issued to SAHL, increasing the number of issued shares in IBTC from 12.5 billion to 18.75 billion shares in the enlarged IBTC).

SAHL will simultaneously seek to acquire additional IBTC shares from existing IBTC shareholders via a Tender Offer that will be made to all IBTC shareholders, and which aims to increase SAHL’s percentage shareholding in the enlarged IBTC.

The bank explained that Tender Offer, which would open from Monday, 23 July 2007 to Monday, 13 August 2007, would involve the acquisition by SAHL of between 3,143,750,000 and 4,062,500,000 IBTC shares at a price of N16 per share.

The Tender Offer price was revised from initial price of N11.74 to N16 representing a premium of approximately 45 per cent to IBTC current share price of N11 on the NSE.