Access Bank Plc is pushing ahead with its East African expansion plans, agreeing to acquire National Bank of Kenya Ltd. from KCB Group Plc in a deal that values the lender at around $100 million, according to company statements and media reports.
The Nigerian lender will pay 1.25 times NBK’s book value of $79.77 million, implying a price tag of about $100 million, Access Bank said Wednesday, according to a Techcabal report. However, one financial expert cautioned that the final acquisition figure could differ markedly from that estimate, the report said.
Access Bank, which already has 22 branches in Kenya, stands to increase its footprint in East Africa’s biggest economy through NBK’s nationwide network, though the Nigerian bank is expected to inject more capital into the acquisition target.
“The transaction represents an important milestone for the bank as it moves us closer to the achievement of our five-year strategic plan through increased scale in the Kenyan market,” Access Bank Chief Executive Officer Roosevelt Ogbonna said in a statement cited by Nigerian media.
For KCB, offloading NBK marks an exit from an investment that failed to bear fruit despite efforts to turn around the lender since acquiring it in a 2019 rescue deal. KCB has spent $63.5 million shoring up NBK’s capital base to meet regulatory minimums, group CEO Paul Russo said, according to reports.
“During the period, we have made progressive investments in the Bank, and we believe that this is in the best interest of the Group and its sustainability,” Russo said in a statement quoted by Nigerian outlets.
Access Bank’s acquisition of NBK comes after an earlier attempt to buy Sidian Bank fell through last year and follows its $12.8 million purchase of Transnational Bank in 2020. The latest deal is expected to take six to nine months to complete, pending approvals from regulators in Nigeria and Kenya.
