Sidian Bank is now set to be owned by Access Bank, a Nigerian banking institution that entered the Kenyan market two years ago. This follows an agreement with Centum to sell 83.4% of its stake in the firm.
Access Bank acquired majority stake in Sidian from Centum Investments Ltd, a real estate company domiciled in Kenya. The acquisition, which is said to be worth ₦ 15.25 (KES4.3 billion), will be finalized in coming days.
The Nigerian firm entered the Kenyan market two years ago with the acquisition of Transnational Bank, Kenya.
Centum Investments announced on Tuesday that it was selling 83.4% of its stake on Sidian to Access Bank, which places the Nigerian lender as the majority shareholder.
Access Bank has been expanding aggressively across the African continent. In 2019, Access Bank merged with Nigeria’s Diamond Bank, making it the largest bank in Africa by customer base. The company also acquired four other banks across Africa in the last 12 months as it looks to strengthen its leading position across Africa.
The company reported that it had acquired banks in Zambia, South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana in the year ended December 31, 2021, in share purchase deals totaling around $135.65 million.
Part of these deals include the acquisition of South Africa’s Grobank and loss-making Cavmont Bank from the Zambian arm of Namibian financial services group Capricorn
Even as Covid-19 hit hard on banking institutions across Africa, Access Bank continues to growth. Its books also look good. In its most recent annual report, the bank recorded an increase of profits by 51% to $384.38 million.
Sidian was founded as a non-governmental organisation before converting to a micro-financier in 1989 and later to a bank in 1999. Although the company has been posting profits in the past few years, Centum CEO says that it has not received as much profits as it has hoped for from the company.
“It is expected that in due course, Sidian will be merged with Access Bank’s subsidiary in Kenya to create a stronger banking institution positioned to serve the Kenyan market,” Centum CEO said.
With the acquisition of Sidian, Access Bank will increase its presence in Kenya as it looks to slice a share of the Kenyan market from leading banks such as the Kenya Commercial Bank, Equity, and Cooperative Bank of Kenya.
Access has operations in 12 African countries and Britain as well as representative offices in China, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and India.
