KCB confirms plans to buy loss making National Bank

KCB Group has made an offer to acquire 100 per cent of the ordinary shares of National Bank of Kenya Limited.

The offer is on a per value of Sh5 per each of National Bank shares. Both KCB and NBK are listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

The offer is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals and has been served on NBK.

KCB proposes to make the acquisition through a share swap of 10 ordinary shares of NBK for every 1 ordinary share of KCB.

If successful, this will be the second bank KCB group is taking over after Central Bank of Kenya accepted the final offer from the bank to takeover Imperial Bank Limited (in receivership).

According to Financial analyst Alykhan Satchu, he suspects a consolidation of the two is in the offing.

“I suspect the merger is a consequence of shortage of capital on the side of National Bank,” Satchu said.

In the period ending December 31, 2018, National Bank reported a 98.3 per cent drop in profits.

The bank made Sh7.007 million in profit compared to Sh410.78 million made within the same period in 2017.

During the same period, Kenya Commercial Bank made a Sh24 billion net profit, a 21.8 per cent jump from Sh19.7 billion in 2017 on lower costs and sustained incomes.

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