Approval of 100 percent share capital acquisition of the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) by the KCB Group has finally been announced by CBK, in accordance with section 13(1)(e) of the constitution. The buyout was initiated by KCB in April in a proposal that was positively accepted by CBK, the Capital Markets Authority and the National Treasury. KCB’s acquisition of NBK full-circle completion of the deal is slated for later in October.
“The acquisition will strengthen both institutions leveraging on their well established domestic regional and well established domestic and regional corporate, public sector and retail franchise,” read CBK’s approval statement.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) as the cure to Kenya’s overpopulated banking landscape in addition to further strengthening the institutions’ which took a significant thrashing from the back to back collapse of three lenders in 2015 and 2016 has been Governor Njoroges point of view since the proposal was floated.
Shareholders at NBK have since taken up KCB’s share-swap offer which entailed a bargain of 10 NBK shares for every single one of KCB’s. As the share-swap window closed on Friday, it had already gathered the support of a majority 77.6 percent share stake or an equivalent 263 million shares of NBK which marked a near successful share conversion as it by itself prompted the delisting of NBK from the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
KCB seeks to create East Africa’s first Ksh.1 trillion valued bank in a quest for consolidation and regional expansion and is expected to disclose the offer results on September 13 ahead of the accreditation and listing of the transferred shares at the end of September.
