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The Commercial International Bank (CIB), an Egyptian private sector lender has acquired a controlling stake of 51 percent in Mayfair Bank Limited in Kenya the Central Bank said on Friday.
CIB is listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and trades over the counter on New York offers a broad range of financial products and services to its customers, which include enterprises of all sizes, institutions, households and high-net-worth individuals.
“The acquisition of a majority stake in MBL will anchor CIB’s expansion into the East African region. Its entry will also strengthen the trade and investment ties between Kenya and Egypt,” said the Central Bank of Kenya.
“The acquisition is expected to diversify and strengthen the resilience of the Kenyan banking sector.”
Egypt’s Commercial International Bank Seeks Approval to Acquire Kenya’s Mayfair Bank
Mayfair Bank Limited was granted an operating license by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) on June 20th, 2017, to conduct banking business in Kenya.
The Bank commenced banking operations on August 1st, 2017. Data from the bank’s website show that it has 14% Corporate Shareholders, 66.69% Corporate Shareholders 66.69%, individual Shareholders have an 8% holding and 33.31% from individual shareholders. 22 local shareholders have a stake.
Kenya’s banking industry has continued to witness increased mergers and consolidation in the past three years.
“Increased consolidation will reduce the number of banks in the country which currently stand at 38, thus reducing the commercial banks to population ratio from the current 0.8x. We expect an increase in consolidation activities going forward which will lead to the formation of relatively larger, well-capitalized and possibly more stable entities,” According to Cytonn Investments.
In 2019, KCB Group finalized the take-over of 100.0% of all the ordinary shares of the National Bank of Kenya (NBK), Commercial Bank of Africa Limited merged with NIC Group PLC to form NCBA.
In January 2020, the Central Bank of Kenya gave nod to Nigerian lender, Access Bank PLC to acquire a 100% stake in Transnational Bank PLC for an undisclosed amount.
