South African retail bank Capitec Bank has won a bid to purchase the local assets of peer Mercantile Bank for 3.2 billion rands (about $232 million).

Capitec said that the purchase of Mercantile will anticipate the need to revive and create new systems and processes from scratch and thus fast-track the bank’s objective to expand its focus to a broader bank strategy.

The deal is subject to approval by the relevant South African regulatory bodies and the purchase agreement is yet to be signed by all parties.

The purchase consideration will be paid from Capitec's capital and cash reserves.