Following the recent shareholders’ approval of the merger of Ecobank Nigeria and Oceanic Bank, the requisite legal and regulatory approvals have now been obtained and the full merger of the two institutions has now been concluded. Oceanic Bank has been merged with Ecobank Nigeria with effect from 30 December 2011.

The merger of the two banks creates one of the strongest financial institutions in Nigeria, in terms of branch network, asset size, customer base and revenues, with significant operational synergies.

Commenting on the transaction, Mr. Jibril Aku, Managing Director of Ecobank Nigeria, said:

“We have a track record of success in merging banks to drive value for shareholders and deliver excellent service for our customers. We will move expeditiously to establish a single, integrated organisation.”

Mr. John Aboh, out-going Managing Director of Oceanic Bank, stated that:

“This merger with Ecobank marks a successful outcome to the rescue of Oceanic Bank. The combined entity provides shareholders and employees access to a stronger banking group. I leave with the satisfaction of having delivered value for our shareholders and opportunities for our employees. I thank the regulatory authorities for their support in the successful conclusion of this process”.

The exponential growth rate of Chinese economic links with Africa has reached a new height as report by Oxford Business Group (OBG) has revealed that China accounts for roughly 25 per cent of Nigeria’s inbound Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), equivalent to roughly $6.1billion (N988.2 billion).
Oxford Business Group is a global publishing and consultancy company producing annual investment and economic reports on more than 30 countries.

Also, recent data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), showed that China was the country’s second largest source of imports for the first six months of 2011.

“About N737 billion ($4.57 billion) of goods entered Nigeria from the Asian giant during the first two quarters of the year, equivalent to about 11 per cent of total imports. Exports to China for the same period were smaller, at N390 billion ($2.42 billion), or about 6 per cent of the total. Nonetheless, China was overall the second-largest trade partner for Nigeria during the first two quarters of 2011, second only to the United States,” NBS reported.

Though the NBS did not report individual categories of imports by country, then Minister of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Jubril Martins Kuye, had last year told newsmen that Nigeria primarily imports mechanical, electronic, textile and light industrial products from China, while goods flowing in the opposite direction include agricultural products, minerals and textile raw materials.

Ghana has cut fuel subsidies following an increase in crude oil prices and the depreciation of the Ghana cedi currency, the head of Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority (NPA) said in a statement. Nigeria cut the subsidy as a New Year gift to the citizens.

Ghana, which joined the club of oil producers in West Africa last year, has come under increased pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)  to remove the fuel subsidies.

The IMF has urged countries across West and Central Africa to cut fuel subsidies, which they say are not effective in directly aiding the poor, but do promote corruption and smuggling.

The past months have seen governments in Nigeria, Guinea, Cameroon and Chad moving to cut state subsidies on fuel.

Alex Mould the Chief Executive Officer of the NPA, said the cumulative effect of the rise in crude oil prices this year and the about 5.7 per cent depreciation of the cedi meant a 25 per cent increase in cedi terms in the cost of procuring crude oil and petroleum products since January. Mould said Ghana has spent about 450 million cedis ($276 million) on fuel subsidies in 2011.

The price change effective from December 29, will see the cost of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) increase by 30 per cent while petrol and diesel will go up 15 per cent at pump.

Hua Hong Semiconductor Ltd. and Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., China’s second and third largest foundries behind Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., said Thursday (Dec. 29) that they completed a merger between the two companies.
Hua Hong and Grace entered into a legally binding agreement to effect a merger between the two companies on Sept. 13, the companies said. The merger was completed with a stock-for-stock transaction, with Hua Hong issuing new shares to the existing shareholders of Grace in exchange for all Grace outstanding shares. Other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Reuters reported the neogitation few weeks ago and we can confirm that the merger has gone through.