FBN Holdings sells merchant banking subsidiary FBN Quest

FBN Holdings offloaded its full stake in FBN Quest Limited, its merchant banking and asset management arm, to a consortium comprising three companies.

The development marked the exit of the group from the merchant banking business.

FBN Quest’s services include corporate and investment banking, investment management, wealth advisory, and fixed-income securities trading.

The “sale is in alignment with the company’s strategy to optimise its portfolio within the group,” FBN Holdings said in a regulatory filing published by the Nigerian Exchange.

“Following a competitive bid Process, EverQuest acquisition LLP (comprising Custodian Investments PLC, Aion Investments and Evercorp Industries) was selected as the preferred bidder,” it added.

The share sale deal requires the approvals of regulators before it can be closed.

FBN Quest reported a net profit of N13 billion for the financial year 2023, contributing 4.2 per cent to the bottom line of the group.

It’s total assets as of the end of last year stood at N361 billion according to the audited earnings report of FBN Holdings for 2023, up from N302 billion a year earlier.

FBN Quest Merchant Bank, formerly FBN Merchant Bank Limited, was incorporated as a limited liability company in February 1995. It was originally known as Kakawa Discount House Limited.

It received a license to operate the business of a discount house and started operations in November 1995.

FBN Holdings acquired the entire equity of the company and transformed it into a merchant bank after getting approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria for merchant banking operations in 2015.

In 2020, South Africa’s Sanlam Group purchased FBN Holdings 65 per cent interest in FBN Insurance Limited, giving the acquirer a 100 per cent ownership of the entity and its subsidiary, FBN General Insurance Limited.