Thursday October 20, 2011 12:33pm

Nigeria's state asset management company AMCON will complete the acquisition of all non-performing loans from banks rescued in a $4 billion 2009 bailout by the end of October, its chief executive said on Thursday.

"At that point (Oct. 31) AMCON will have acquired 2.78 trillion naira face value of non-performing loans from 21 banks at a cost of 1.16 trillion naira," Mustapha Chike-Obi told reporters in Nigeria's commercial-hub Lagos.

AMCON was set up last year to absorb bad bank loans, exchanging them for government-backed bonds, with the aim of rebuilding commercial bank balance sheets. All rescued banks have now completed recapitalisation.