Aug 8 (Lagos) - Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) or the "bad bank" has appointed Citi and Renaissance Capital to determine the value of three banks it nationalized
last year.

This is going to be done to before deciding on the best way to privatize them. AMCON was created in 2010 to bail out troubled banks in Nigeria by absorbing their non performing loans.

AMCON absorbed bad loans from most banks in Nigeria leading to a clean-up of their balance sheets. That may be one the reasons the bank's valuations look so attractive now post AMCON measures.

The three nationalised banks were Afribank Plc, Bank PHB Plc, and Spring Bank Plc. They are now known as Mainstreet Bank, Keystone Bank and Enterprise bank respectively.

AMCON could possible hold IPO for these three banks in the future and return them to public ownership according to AMCON CEO  Chike-Obi who has overseen the transformation plan that was put in place by CBN governor Lamido Sanusi.

Reporting for easykobo.com on Wednesday, August 8 2012 from Lagos, Nigeria