Access Holdings to Buy Foremost PFA First Guarantee Pension

By Dipo Olowookere

Access Holdings Plc, in a bid to expand its revenue streams, is proposing to acquire a majority equity stake in a leading pension fund administration (PFA), First Guarantee Pension Limited.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings, Mr Herbert Wigwe, disclosed that the deal is in line with the ambitious plans of the organisation to become the major provider of financial services in Africa.

He stated that the company wants the lion’s share of the PFA because it has the structures and a track record to deliver superb services to customers and with cutting-edge technology and tested and trusted corporate government and high standards of professionalism, it will manage the pension assets of its clients.

“This transaction is a natural evolution for us. Over the last 20 years, we set our sights on and delivered ambitious plans to transform the African financial services landscape focusing on banking and have created the Africa leading bank and the largest bank by customer base,” Mr Wigwe was quoted as saying in a statement signed by the company secretary, Mr Sunday Ekwochi.

Speaking further, the renowned banker said, “The large customer base both on the wholesale and retail segments makes the pension business a natural fit for the corporation given its objective of ecosystem optimisation.”

“We will leverage our well-established culture of strong corporate governance, risk management, cutting-edge technology and digital capabilities to deliver high standards of professionalism of pension assets to the benefits of our stakeholders,” he assured.

It was disclosed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the National Pension Commission (PenCom) have given their ‘no objection’ to the transaction. However, the completion of the deal is subject to the receipt of all required regulatory approvals.

Access Holdings said the transaction is a consequential step in its evolution from a narrow banking business into a financial service holding company positioned to gain relevant scale across Africa, global monetary centres and beyond-banking verticals

Business Post recalls that in August 2011, PenCom took over the management of First Guarantee Pension due to “incessant shareholders squabbles and several issues of adverse corporate governance in the PFA.”

An Interim Management Committee was then formed to pilot the affairs of the company.

The regulator had said the action was taken based on the powers conferred on it by the Pension Reform Act 2004 (PRA 2004) and in the exercise of its statutory mandate of protecting the pension fund and assets.

The PFA was established in 2004 as a limited liability company and its vision is “to be the PFA of the first choice in Nigeria reputed for real wealth creation and excellent customer service through consistently superior and sustained return on investment to all stakeholders.”