{"id":872744,"date":"2026-08-31T09:43:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T07:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=872744"},"modified":"2026-08-31T09:43:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T07:43:52","slug":"major-south-african-bank-discontinued-after-r2-8-billion-sale-collapses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/872744\/major-south-african-bank-discontinued-after-r2-8-billion-sale-collapses\/","title":{"rendered":"Major South African bank ‘discontinued’ after R2.8 billion sale collapses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bidvest Bank remains a discontinued operation for its parent company following the failed sale to Nigeria’s Access Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bidvest Bank is a full-service bank that offers a host of products, including foreign exchange, fleet, business and personal financial products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group’s total book was R6 billion in December 2024, including assets, loans and advances, and was funded by R8 billion in deposits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank was put up for sale in 2024 following a portfolio review, where the wider Bidvest group opted to focus on growth areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December 2024, Access Bank agreed to acquire 100% of Bidvest Bank Holdings Limited\u2019s share capital for R2.8 billion. Bidvest would then use these proceeds to settle debt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Access Bank failed to obtain the required approvals for the transaction before the long stop date in early 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sale process was then relaunched, with Bidvest confident in its ability to execute the disposal in an accelerated timeframe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its latest financial results for the year ended 30 June 2026, the group said that both Bidvest Bank and Bidvest Life have been classified as disposal groups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With both subsidiaries for sale, they have been classified as discontinued operations in the financial results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The group is committed to the disposal process and its ultimate successful conclusion,” it said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has received a binding offer of R140 million from a private equity-led financial services consortium for 100% of the share capital of Bidvest Life. Regulatory approvals are still required. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the group has struggled to sell its bank, it was able to sell FinGlobal Migration, a company focused on South African emigrants, to Momentum as per its move away from financial services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Financial results<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For the financial year, Bidvest said that it delivered a strong performance, which included every trading division delivering trading profit growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said revenue growth of 2.9% to R130.3 billion and an overall 8% increase in trading profit to R13.1 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group’s cash flow generated by operations also rose to 17%, to R17.2 billion, while free cash flow generation increased by 27%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continuing operations headline earnings per share increased 6% to 1,864.2 cents, while normal headline earnings per share rose 4% to 1,952.6 cents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the group’s continuing operations recorded a profit of R6.5 billion, the group’s discontinued operations recorded a loss of R2.3 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group declared a final dividend of 483 cents per share, adding to the interim dividend of 495 cents per share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said that it enters FY2027 with positive operating momentum and a strengthened platform for sustainable growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group’s near-term priorities include improving cash generation, accelerating organic growth, reducing leverage, and rebuilding returns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Financial Metric<\/strong><\/td>2026 (R’000)<\/strong><\/td>2025 (R’000)<\/strong><\/td>% Change<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
Revenue<\/strong><\/td>130,321,400<\/td>126,605,406<\/td>+2.94%<\/td><\/tr>
Gross profit<\/strong><\/td>36,895,659<\/td>35,064,942<\/td>+5.22%<\/td><\/tr>
Trading profit<\/strong><\/td>13,052,345<\/td>12,045,696<\/td>+8.36%<\/td><\/tr>
Profit for the year from continuing operations<\/strong><\/td>6,537,836<\/td>6,259,376<\/td>+4.45%<\/td><\/tr>
(Loss) Profit after tax from discontinued operations<\/strong><\/td>(2,256)<\/td>181,214<\/td>-101.25%<\/td><\/tr>
Profit for the year<\/strong><\/td>6,535,580<\/td>6,440,590<\/td>+1.47%<\/td><\/tr>
Basic earnings per share (cents) – Group<\/strong><\/td>1,808.4<\/td>1,785.5<\/td>+1.28%<\/td><\/tr>
Headline earnings per share (cents) – Group<\/strong><\/td>1,952.6<\/td>1,870.8<\/td>+4.37%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bidvest Bank remains a discontinued operation on Bidvest’s balance sheet following the collapsed sale to Access Bank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":812776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2094330386234945688","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2191699671650432","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18112950721812497","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[21353,7190],"class_list":["post-872744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-access-bank","tag-bidvest-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872744"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":872770,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872744\/revisions\/872770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}