Access Holdings Plc, a pan-African financial services group led by Nigerian multimillionaire banking executive Herbert Wigwe, plans to acquire Sigma Pensions through one of its subsidiaries, First Guarantee Pension, which operates as a Pension Fund Administrator.
According to a press release obtained by Billionaires.Africa, Access Holdings announced that its subsidiary pension business, First Guarantee Pension, has received regulatory approval from the National Pension Commission and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to acquire all issued shares of Actis Golf Nigeria Limited, which owns Sigma Pension.
After the proposed acquisition is completed, Access Holdings intends to merge the operations and Sigma Pension to form Nigeria’s fourth-largest Pension Fund Administrator by assets under management.
Herbert Wigwe, CEO of Access Holdings, stated in his comment on the transaction that Access Holdings is making significant progress in its diversification and growth into the pension funds administration sector, following the group’s divestment from the pension funds custody sector and its recent acquisition of First Guarantee Pension.
“Our plan is to consolidate these entities to create a formidable pension funds administration business,” he said, adding that the proposed consolidation will leverage the group’s extensive distribution network, strong risk management culture, and best-in-class governance standards to provide contributors with long-term world-class pension funds administration services.
Access Holdings is Nigeria’s largest financial services group by assets and one of the most capitalized financial institutions on the Nigerian Exchange. Its operations include South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Gambia, and Mozambique.
Wigwe, a Nigerian business executive who was instrumental in the pan-African banking group’s growth and expansion, owns a significant 4.27-percent stake in the bank, or 1,517,850,729 ordinary shares.
Three weeks ago, the financial services group under his leadership announced plans to take control of the majority shareholding of Finibanco Angola S.A. with the purchase of a 51-percent stake in the Luanda-based bank.
The proposed transaction, which is still subject to regulatory approval, fits in perfectly with the company’s decision to become a multinational bank as part of the effort to build an ecosystem and community connected to the rest of the world that is inspired by Africa.
