KCB Group has announced the sale of 100 per cent shares at the National Bank of Kenya (NBK).
The lender made the announcement after a report by Business Daily revealed that KCB had inked a deal to sell its subsidiary at an undisclosed amount.
The transaction which is subject to regulatory approvals will see KCB sell its subsidiary to Access Bank at a 1.25 book value multiple.
The transaction will take somewhere between six to nine months to complete.
“The Board of Directors of KCB Group Plc (KCB) wishes to advise shareholders and investors that on 20 March 2024 KCB entered into a share purchase agreement (“Agreement”) with Access Bank Plc (Access Bank), which, if the proposed transaction is successfully completed, would result in Access Bank acquiring 100% of the issued ordinary shares in National Bank of Kenya Limited (NBK) from KCB,” stated KCB Group Company Secretary Bonnie Okumu.
“Pending completion of the proposed transaction, the shareholders of KCB and other investors are advised to exercise caution when dealing in the shares of KCB on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, the Uganda Securities Exchange, the Rwanda Stock Exchange and the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange,” he added.
Upon completion of the sale, NBK will become a subsidiary of Access Bank.
“As you will recall, in 2019, KCB Group took a bold decision and acquired 100% of the ordinary shares of the National Bank of Kenya (NBK)…Regrettably, some significant legacy claims have eroded all the gains we have made that we had achieved,” said KCB Group Chair Joseph Kinyua during the release of the lender’s financial results for the year ended 31st December 2023.
In 2019, KCB acquired NBK, a medium-sized lender that was then controlled by the state in a rescue deal engineered by the country’s apex bank, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).