Afrigather The Competitors Authority of Kenya (CAK) has accepted Entry Financial institution’s acquisition of the Nationwide Financial institution of Kenya (NBK) from KCB Group, supplied it retains 80% of the employees for one 12 months. The deal will now want the approval of the Central Financial institution of Kenya (CBK).
“The transaction has been accepted provided that Entry Financial institution Plc retains, for a interval of 1 (1) 12 months following completion of the transaction, not less than of 80% of the goal’s present workforce and all Entry Financial institution (Kenya) Plc staff, its native subsidiary,” CAK mentioned in an announcement despatched to TechCabal.
Regulatory filings present that NBK has 1,384 staff whereas Entry Financial institution Kenya has 316.
Whereas the worth of the transaction has not been disclosed, KCB Group introduced in March 2024 that it agreed to promote Nationwide Financial institution for 1.25x of the financial institution’s guide worth. Given NBK’s guide worth of $79.77 million in 2023, the deal could possibly be priced round $100 million.
The deal is predicted to be finalised in November.
Entry Financial institution at the moment has 23 branches in 12 counties in Kenya. NBK, which gives retail, company, and Islamic banking providers in 77 branches in 28 counties, will improve Entry’s footprint in East Africa’s largest financial system.
The financial institution’s present operations in Kenya are categorized as tier 3, ranked 37 out of the 39 licensed business banks, whereas NBK is a tier 2 lender.
CAK estimates that the merged entity may have a mixed market share of 1.9% as soon as the acquisition is full.
“The mixed market dimension is unlikely to lift competitors issues since it’s low. Moreover, the merged entity will face competitors from the opposite banks available in the market,” CAK mentioned.
“The merged entity will face competitors from the opposite banks available in the market. Based mostly on the foregoing, the proposed transaction is unlikely to result in
a considerable lessening or prevention of competitors available in the market.”
Entry Financial institution didn’t instantly reply to a request for feedback.
