First City Monument Bank said on Friday it has completed the acquisition of rescued lender Finbank, which it said would double its branch network and customer base.
FCMB shares were up almost four per cent on Friday at N4.10 per share.
The mid-size lender has won all necessary regulatory approvals for the deal and Finbank will become a wholly-owned subsidiary, it said in a statement to shareholders.
Finbank was among nine lenders rescued by central bank in 2009. Four of the bailed out banks have since merged with rivals while three others were nationalised for failing to find merger partners. The ninth reduced its size to survive.
FCMB which operates from 133 branches said the buyout ends the recapitalisation process for Finbank, but it did not disclose how much it paid for the stake.
Finbank has 180 branches and is worth around a tenth of FCMB’s value of N104 billion.