Access Holdings Plc, the holding company of Access Bank on Thursday said it has entered into a definitive agreement with First Guarantee Pension Limited regarding the potential acquisition majority stake in the company. In a regulatory filing with the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), the firm which trades under the name Access Corporation said the transaction was a consequential step in the corporation’s evolution from a narrow banking business into a financial service holding company positioned to gain relevant scale across Africa, global monetary centres and beyond banking verticals. According to the Group Chief Executive of the corporation, Herbert Wigwe, the transaction was a natural evolution for the company. He said over the last 20 years, the corporation set its sights on and delivered ambitious plans to transform the African financial services landscape focusing on banking and has created the African leading bank and the largest bank by customer base. “The large customer base both on the wholesale and retail segments makes the pension business a natural fit for the Corporation given its objectives of ecosystem optimisation. “We will leverage our well-established culture of strong corporate governance, risk management, cutting edge technology and digital capabilities to deliver high standards of professionalism in the management of the pension assets to the benefit of our stakeholders. “The National Pension Commission and Central Bank of Nigeria have given their ‘no objection’ to the transaction, the completion of which is subject to the receipt of all required regulatory approvals. “The corporation will update the market as appropriate and in accordance with its disclosure obligations.” READ ALSO:Stock Market Bullish With N299bn Investors’ Gain First Guarantee Pension Limited (FGPL) is a Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) incorporated on 5 August 2004 under the Pension Reform Act, 2014 and licensed by the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) to manage and invest pensions on behalf of public and private sector employees. Our final operating license as a Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) was granted 13 January 2006. According to information on its website, the company it has an authorized share capital of N1 billion and a paid-up share capital of N922 million. “Our Nigerian shareholders comprise distinguished individuals and corporate bodies from all fields of the economy,” FGPL wrote on its profile page. It would be recalled that reports this week showed that FBN Holdings Plc, through its subsidiary First Pension Custodian Limited, agreed with Access Bank Plc to buy out the latter’s pension subsidiary, Access Pension Fund Custodian in a deal involving 100 per cent ownership transfer. However, it was not clear if the transactions are linked with the current announcement by Access Corporate to acquire a majority stake in First Guarantee Pension Limited, which has a working relationship with First Pension Custodian Limited. First Pension Custodian Limited serves as pension fund custodian for RSA accounts of First Guarantee Pension Limited.