Access Bank Group, a Nigerian financial services conglomerate, could acquire the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) from its parent company, KCB Group, for around $99.6 million. However, a report says the exact figure will only be revealed when the deal is finalized.
With the deal expected to be concluded between six and nine months, Paul Russo, KCB Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), disclosed that the NBK and Access Bank have entered into a binding agreement.
The deal will see Access Bank pay 1.25 times the book value of NBK, which was around $79.28 million as of December 2023.
The acquisition is still subject to Kenyan and Nigerian regulatory approvals.
KCB Group acquired NBK in a rescue deal facilitated by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) in 2019.
However, as KCB Group Chairman, Joseph Kinyua, later stated about the efforts to turn NBK around, some legacy issues wiped out all the company’s gains.
This made KCB, which had indicated that it was investing in NBK for the long haul, to rethink its position after the narrowing capital adequacy ratios in the last two years.
The NBK sale announcement is coming at a time when KCB Group’s full-year net profit dropped by 8.3% to $280.95 million from $306.23 million.
