KCB offers to buy National Bank via share swap

Customers wait to be served in the banking hall at the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), Kencom branch in Nairobi. (Photo, Courtesy)

NAIROBI, KENYA: Kenya’s biggest lender by assets KCB Group has offered to buy 100 per cent of National Bank of Kenya through a share swap consisting of one KCB share for every 10 of National, KCB said in a letter to National Bank on Thursday.

The offer marks the second major deal among lenders since the government capped commercial lending rates in 2016. CBA Group, a privately held bank, is in process of merging with NIC Bank in in a deal which has been approved by shareholders of both parties.