FirstRand’s acquisition of UK challenger bank Aldermore, as agreed by their boards, would narrow the capital gap between the South African lender and its national rival Standard Bank.
In early November Aldermore’s board recommended shareholders accept the FirstRand’s £1.1bn ($1.44bn) takeover offer.
Combined, their Tier 1 capital is $7.64bn, which is 11% shy of Standard Bank’s $8.63bn. The deal would create a clear gap between the continent’s top two lenders and the chaser pack, which is headed by Nedbank (also of South Africa) with $4.82bn in Tier 1 capital.
Sitting in fourth place is Morocco’s Attijariwafa Bank, and rounding out the continent’s big five is National Bank of Egypt.
In asset size, however, FirstRand would still lag far behind Standard Bank. Combined with Aldermore, the former would have $88.11bn in assets while the latter had $142.86bn at the end of 2016.
All data sourced from www.thebankerdatabse.com
