Nigerian lender Skye Bank has won the bid to buy nationalised lender Mainstreet Bank, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria revealed on Saturday.

AMCON had sought bidders for the sale of its 100 percent stake in Mainstreet Bank, one of three banks nationalised following a $4 billion Central Bank bailout that saved several Nigerian lenders from near bankruptcy in 2009.Although the AMCON statement did not give details of the agreed price of the sale, it announced Cedar One Investment Partners Limited as the 1st reserve bidder and Fidelity Bank as the second reserve bidder. It said the completion of the transaction is subject to the fulfilment of the conditions precedent as stated in the share sale and purchase agreement (SPA) to be executed with Skye Bank PLC as well as the receipt of all required regulatory approvals from the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to AMCON, should Skye Bank be  unable to complete the transaction in line with the payment terms and other provisions of the SPA, the SPA entered into with Skye Bank would be terminated and Cedar would become the preferred bidder. If Cedar is also unable to complete the transaction in line with the payment terms and other provisions of the SPA, Fidelity Bank would become the preferred bidder.

AMCON said this process started with interest shown by 25 parties cutting across local and international investors. The emergence of Skye Bank, Cedar and Fidelity Bank as preferred 1st and 2nd reserve bidders, respectively, resulted from a rigorous and competitive bidding process, which was coordinated for AMCON by Barclays Africa Group Limited and Afrinvest West Africa Limited (financial advisers) and Banwo & Ighodalo (legal advisers), AMCON said.