DTB raises Sh3.6 billion for regional expansion

Diamond Trust Bank has raised Sh3.6 billion ($41 million) in an oversubscribed rights issue to expand its branch network in the region and to support lending. The bank, which focuses on services to small and medium-sized businesses, plans to use the funds to expand its retail banking services in Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda.

The bank said it received a total of Sh16 billion or a 440 percent subscription for the 22 million additional shares it had offered at Sh165.00 a share in June.

Alkarim Jiwa the general manager for finance and planning said the new funds will also be used to explore new investment opportunities in new markets for the bank.

“We plan to expand into Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Mozambique and Madagascar. We are doing feasibility studies in two of these countries, and based on the outcome we could enter one of those markets in the next 18 months,” Jiwa said.