After several years of watching the Nigerian financial landscape from the sidelines, and after fellow South African giant- Standard Bank acquired controlling stake in Stanbic IBTC Bank, indications are that FirstRand Bank may soon conclude a deal for a strategic investment in Sterling Bank Plc.

This is also coming several years after a bid by French banking giant- Credit Agricole failed to materialize, after the Nigerian bank could not continue with plans to raise N100 billion capital that would have provided the inroad for the foreign investor.

The latest move by FirstRand, according to international newswire- Reuters, quoting sources familiar with the deal, is coming years after the South African number two bank opened a representative office in Nigeria.

Managing Director Sizwe Nxasana, who took over FirstRand about a year ago told Reuters last year that the South African bank was looking to invest “meaningful amounts of capital” in Nigeria and would fund any deal from its reserves.

It was the first foreign bank to announce interest in buying one out of the nine Nigerian banks rescued by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in a N627 billion bailout in 2009, but later got cold feet.

Along the line, the bank is believed to have stated preference for entering the Nigerian market through a strategic alliance with a healthy bank, for which it is willing to investment between N45 and N60 billion.

Sterling Bank is not one of the banks bailed-out in 2009 by the CBN as it passed the test on the three parameters- liquidity, capital adequacy and corporate governance, and has a market capitalization of about N30.528 billion at the end trading on Wednesday on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

FirstRand and Sterling Bank both declined to comment.

“They (FirstRand) are looking at making a strategic investment in Sterling,” one banking source told Reuters.

Apart from FirstRand, other deals are looming in Nigeria’s banking sector as new investors seek to recapitalise the rescued banks, just as Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has set a June timeframe to resolve the country’s banking crisis.

Banking sources said a consortium involving Vine Capital, a relatively unknown private equity firm, has put in a bid to acquire Finbank which had earlier rebuffed an earlier bid by rival First City Monument Bank (FCMB).

“Finbank rejected FCMB’s bid and asked Vine Capital to make a bid” another source told Reuters declining to be named.

Banking sources said Vine Capital has signed a recapitalisation agreement with Afribank and intends to bid for Finbank in order to merge it with Afribank.

CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi said last week that two of the rescued banks have signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) with new investors and two more should be signed this week or next.

The deals, he said, would be completed within eight to

12 weeks of the agreements being signed.

“The MoU more or less captures negotiations that have been completed. What is left is basically implementation of the terms, obtaining the necessary shareholder and regulatory approvals,” Sanusi told Reuters.

“That we think should be done in eight weeks, maximum 12 weeks, from the signing of MOUs,” he said.