Kayode Ekundayo
21 December 2008
Following the successful acquisition of Spring Bank Plc by Bank PHB, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has approved the constitution of a new board for Spring Bank Plc. Bank PHB submitted a list of 11 names, comprising three executive directors and six non-executive directors as well as the managing director and chief executive officer, which the CBN has approved.
Leading the new board is Vincent Omoike, currently chairman of the CBN appointed Interim Management Board (IMB) of Spring Bank Plc who is being retained as the chairman of the new board. Vincent Omoike is a professional banker and a Chartered Accountant, having joined the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as a teenager and rose to the position of a Director of the apex bank. He retired in 2003 as the Director, Banking Operations.
To lead the new management team is Mr. Charles Ojo, who is the managing director and chief executive officer of Spring Bank Plc. Charles Ojo until this appointment was Executive Director in charge of the Abuja branch of Bank PHB. An exceptionally skilled banker, with over eighteen years banking experience, his background spans corporate and project finance, structured finance, credit and marketing.
Mr. Ojo has attended a number of professional courses locally and off-shore. He is an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers of Nigeria and also an alumnus of both the prestigious Executive Development Programme of the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania, USA and Lagos Business School.
Other members of the 11 man board include: Elisha Olarenwaju Fagbohun, Executive Director, Kingsley Umadia, Executive Director, and Anogwi Anyanwu also an Executive Director. The non executive directors include: Adebayo Adewakun formerly a director of Bank PHB, Vincent Okwechime, Francis Atuche MD/CEO Bank PHB, Suleiman Ndanusa outgoing MD/CEO of the CBN-appointed board of Spring Bank, Niyi Oyedele and Olukayode Falowo. The new board is expected to take over from the current Interim Management Board (IMB) of Spring Bank Plc today which will signal the repositioning of Spring Bank to regain its top position in the Nigerian banking industry.
Bank PHB on November 28, 2008 opened a N21 billion bid for more than three billion units of Spring Bank Plc in a bid to take its stake in the bank to more than 51 percent to give it controlling stake in Spring Bank Plc. Bank PHB, already had 33 per cent of the issued shares of Spring Bank which was acquired with the approval of Nigeria's banking and capital market regulatory authorities.
The bank announced the successful conclusion of the bid on Friday December 19, 2008 when initial collation of returns showed it had acquired more than the minimum 51 percent stake required to takeover Spring Bank Plc. This is the first successful acquisition of a listed company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by another listed company. Renaissance Capital, a leading investment bank in emerging markets has hailed the acquisition noting that it will be beneficial to all stakeholders including customers, employees' investors and the regulatory authorities. Major shareholder associations have also backed the historic acquisition.
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