One of the branches of Jamii Bora Bank in Kenya. CBA has offered to buy the bank at KSh1.4 billion. (STANDARD MEDIA PHOTO)
NAIROBI – Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) has made a KSh1.4 billion (about UGX51b) cash offer to buy out Jamii Bora Bank, Business Daily reported Friday January 11.
A few weeks ago CBA made a reverse takeover of NIC Group, which is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
If all goes as planned, the combined CBA, NIC and Jamii Bora business will rank as Kenya’s third-largest banking entity after KCB and Equity. CBA has operations in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, among other areas. President Uhuru Kenyatta and the wider Kenyatta family are major shareholders of CBA.
According to the daily, a source that preferred anonymity said: “Due diligence and negotiations have been ongoing since last year and the deal is likely to close in a matter of weeks.”
The coming of financial heavy-weight CBA on board is expected to change the fortunes of Jamii Bora which has, in recent years, conducted several rounds of capital-raising to grow its competitiveness. The bank opened shop in 1999.
Last month, Kenya’s banking industry experienced another development when private equity firms AfricInvest and Catalyst Principal Partners acquired a 24.2 per cent stake in Prime Bank for $50 million (UGX185.5b) at book value.
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