Article Summary
- Access Holdings has acquired more shares of fintech E-tranzact, bringing its total investments in the company to N12.1 billion.
- The bank now owns 3.45 billion units of shares of E-tranzact as it increased its stake to 37.56% as of December 2022.
Banking Group, Access Holdings, has increased its investments in the fintech company, E-tranzact, to N12.1 billion as it acquired more shares. This increased the company’s stake in the fintech firm to 37.56% as of December 2022 from 23.8% in 2021.
Access Holdings disclosed this in its Q1 2023 financial statement just released. According to the financial statement, the Group holds an equity interest of 3.45 billion ordinary shares of 50k each in E-tranzact International Plc as of 31 December 2022, representing 37.56% equity participation.
It, however, noted that no dividend income was received from E-tranzact during the year.
Voting rights in E-tranzact
While noting that the proportion of the bank’s interest is the same as the proportion of its voting rights in E-tranzact, Access Holdings said:
- “There are no significant restrictions on the ability of the associates to transfer funds to the group in the form of cash dividends, or repayments of loans or advances. The associate was accounted for using the equity method at the Group level The Group exercises significant influence in E-tranzact International Limited by virtue of its more than 20% shareholding in the entity and the representation of one director on the board of the company and significant participation in the company’s operating and financial policies.”
The bank further disclosed that the existing investment the Group had in Etranzact was initially recognized in the books under equity instruments measured at Fair value through profit or loss. It added that at the point of increasing the stakes of the Group in Etranzact by means of the Right issue, the existing shares were reclassified to investment in associates at their fair value.
The fintech
E-tranzact (ETRAN), a fully integrated fintech platform in Africa was founded in 2003 and is one of the leading independent players in Lagos, Nigeria with a diversified license and product capabilities.
The company has enjoyed continuous and consistent growth in top-line revenue, subscriber base, and activity over the past 5 years and is positioned for continued growth post-Covid.
With fintechs in Nigeria now giving commercial banks a challenge with more innovative products and agile services, industry experts have suggested that one of the best strategies for the banks is to acquire or create their own fintech subsidiaries to challenge the fintech companies. Access Holdings is obviously playing along this line by increasing its stakes in E-tranzact.