KCB offers to buy National Bank via share buyout

Kenya Commercial Bank Group has offered to buy 100% of National Bank of Kenya through a share swap consisting, the leading lender by assets has revealed through a letter to National Bank.

The offer, the second major deal among lenders since the government capped commercial lending rates in 2016, will see KCB acquire one share for every 10 held by NBK.

CBA Group, a privately-owned bank, has got the approval of its shareholders to merge with NIC Bank.

NBK has issued a statement confirming that KCB Group had served them with a notice of intention to acquire 100% of its ordinary shares in the proposed transaction.

KCB has proposed, as a condition, the delisting of NBK from the Nairobi Securities Exchange and the conversion of 1,135,000,000 preference shares in the capital of the firm to 1,135,000,000 new ordinary shares.

As a consequence of the notice, NBK has advised its shareholders and the public to exercise due caution when dealing with its shares until further announcements are made.

Another condition to be met  in the acqusition is the procurement of regulatory approvals from, amongst others, the Capital Markets Authority, the Central Bank of Kenya, and the Competition Authority of Kenya.

NBK said its board would consider the offer in detail, make consultations, and then seek the necessary approvals from the shareholders and the regulators.

The NSE had, earlier in the day, suspended trading in both KCB and National Bank shares, without offering an explanation.

Additional reporting by Standard Digital