Access Holdings Plc bought 76% of Mauritius’s AfrAsia Bank Limited (ABL) for N611.14 billion ($397.55 million) in cash or about 3.8 times the lender’s annual profit. Access then booked a N164.66 billion “bargain purchase” gain.
At year-end 2025, Access had booked provisional goodwill of N16.28 billion, meaning it paid slightly more than AfrAsia’s book value.
Once the valuation was finished, Access added N186.08 billion of intangibles: a N120.57 billion core deposit intangible, N33.80 billion of customer relationships and a N31.71 billion AfrAsia brand, according to the 9M financial statement.
The goodwill became a bargain purchase gain of N164.66 billion.
“The bargain purchase has been computed based on the fair value of the net assets of ABL, compared to the sum of the consideration paid for the acquisition and the fair value of the noncontrolling interest,” Access Holdings said in its 9Months, 2026 Financial Statement.
The gain was not put through the nine-month income statement. Instead, Access restated its December 2025 balance sheet, lifting retained earnings by N164.15 billion and intangible assets by N152.68 billion.
The brand is treated as having an indefinite life and will not be amortised.
What Access Bought
AfrAsia is a profitable and fast-growing bank. In the year to June 2026, profit after tax rose 8.4% to 6.84 billion rupees and pretax profit rose 14.7% to 8.87 billion rupees, according to its audited statements. Operating income rose 14.6% to 11.87 billion rupees, while costs rose 26.8%.
Net loans and advances rose 49% to 112.6 billion rupees and deposits grew 20% to 310.8 billion rupees. Return on equity was about 27%, on MoneyCentral calculations.
In the quarter to September 2026, profit after tax rose 37% to 2.1 billion rupees and non-performing assets fell to 2%, according to AfrAsia’s Q1 statements.
AfrAsia had 561 staff at June 2025 and serves clients in more than 170 countries through its global business unit, its 2025 annual report says.
The bank is large relative to Access. Its acquisition-date assets of N9.99 trillion equal about 19% of the Access group’s September 2026 total assets of N52.60 trillion, and its N8.93 trillion of deposits equal about 24% of group customer deposits, on MoneyCentral calculations.
At about 46 rupees to the dollar, AfrAsia’s annual profit is roughly $148 million, or about N198 billion at N1,335 per dollar.
The sellers were National Bank of Canada, IBL, and other holders including Singapore’s Intrasia Capital Pte Ltd. (9.53%) and BMH Ltd. (6.13%), according to the 2025 annual report.
The stake was held through Access Holdings (Mauritius) Ltd.
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