FirstRand eyes Nigerian market

FirstRand could spend more than $300-million to buy a retail and commercial bank in Nigeria to expand into Africa's top oil-producing country, FirstRand chief executive Sizwe Nxasana said yesterday.

FirstRand was last week awarded an investment banking licence in Nigeria.

But its investment banking arm, Rand Merchant Bank, will probably need local funds to help finance deals there.

"At the moment we have a dollar balance sheet, but pretty soon we're going to build a naira balance sheet," he said Nxasana.