Standard Bank Completes Acquisition of Stanbic Holdings

Standard Africa Holdings Limited, the majority shareholder in Stanbic Holdings has completed the acquisition of additional shares in the company.

This raises its total shareholding to 296,188,531 shares equivalent to 74.9 percent of the company’s ownership.

“Pursuant to various extensions granted by the Capital Markets Authority, SAHL is pleased that it has now completed the acquisition of the additional shares that have brought its overall shareholding to 74.92 percent of the total issued share capital of Stanbic Holdings,” said SAHL in a notice.

“SAHL has, therefore, ceased acquiring additional shares in Stanbic Holdings.”

SAHL had targeted to acquire a maximum of 10.6 million ordinary shares in Stanbic to bring its total shareholding up to 75.0 percent of Stanbic Holdings’ ordinary shares and has since sought extensions to enable them to meet their target.

SAHL’s completion of the Stanbic Holdings acquisition is expected to boost the positive sentiments about the Kenyan Banking industry and in turn increase investor confidence, especially in a period that has seen dwindling share prices as a result of increased sell-offs by foreign investors.

Key to note, Stanbic Bank has continued to recover from the effects of the harsh business environment brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and proves to be a profitable business with the Profits After Tax for Q1’2022 having increased by 12.0 percent to Kshs 2.1 billion, from Kshs 1.9 billion in Q1’2021.

“Further, Kenya being one of SAHL’s strategic growth markets, we expect to see a number of innovative moves aimed at increasing the company’s revenues and supporting its growth strategies. We also expect increased activity in share repurchase and buyback activity in the bourse from companies whose prices and valuations are currently low,” according to Cytonn Investment Analysts.

“The move by the CMA to allow for exemptions from making full takeovers is also commendable as it allows for investors to increase their shareholding by carrying out on-market trading to acquire a higher stake, as compared to having to acquire the entire entities.”