By Daily Nation
The Competition Authority of Kenya(CAK) has approved a proposed acquisition of a 62.5 percent stake in First Community Bank by Somalia’s Premier Bank.
The value of the detail was not immediately clear with the two transacting banks set to merge on the closure of the deal.
“Pursuant to the provisions of section 46 (6) (a) (ii) of the Competition Act, 2010, it is notified for general information that in exercise of the powers conferred upon the Competition Authority of Kenya by section 46 (1) of the Competition Act, the Competition Authority of Kenya has authorised the implementation of the proposed merger as set out herein” CAK acting Director-General Adano Wario said in a notice yesterday.
Read: Somalia’s president Hassan Sheikh history of corruption 2012-2017
Read: Somalia’s president Hassan Sheikh history of corruption 2012-2017
FCB, a third-tier lender, had a 0.38 percent market share as of June last year and ranked 27th among Kenya’s 39 banks with Sh22.2 billion in deposits.
Premier Bank is a privately owned Sharia-compliant commercial bank incorporated in Somalia in 2013 and licensed by the Central Bank of Somalia in 2014. The Somalia lender offers retail banking, business, and corporate banking, mobile and internet banking, ATM banking, SWIFT transfers, and international money transfers.
The acquisition of FCB by Premier Bank comes barely two months after the Central Bank of Kenya on January 23 approved the takeover of Kenya’s Mayfair Bank by Egypt’s leading private sector bank, Commercial International Bank (CIB).
CIB fully takeover over Mayfair, after purchasing the remaining 49 percent of shares. It had previously purchased 51 percent of shares in 2020.
MBL, which started operations in August 2017, operates five branches in Nairobi, Eldoret, and Mombasa.
Following the Mayfair buyout, the Cairo-based lender became the first Egyptian bank to establish a presence in Kenya.
CIB is the leading private-sector bank in Egypt, with a total asset base of approximately Sh3.09 trillion ($24.18 billion).
It is listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange and trades over the counter on the New York Stock Exchange. It also has representative offices in the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia.