A customer waits to be served at a Transnational Bank branch in Nairobi. Close associates of former President Daniel Moi have received Sh1.4 billion for selling a majority stake in Transnational Bank to a top Nigerian lender. FILE PHOTO | NMG Close associates of former President Daniel Moi have received Sh1.4 billion for selling a majority stake in Transnational Bank to a top Nigerian lender.
Regulatory filings seen by the Business Daily show the Nigerian tier one lender Access Bank paid the amount to close the deal for the Kenyan bank linked with persons who were close to Mr Moi, who died in February.
The closure of the deal now paves the way for Access Bank, owned by business mogul Herbert Wigwe, to inject additional capital in Transnational, which had 0.25 percent stake in December 2018, as it seeks a return to profitability.
The price is a discount given that shareholders’ fund– the amount of money Transnational could return to shareholders if all assets were converted to cash and all debts paid off — stood at Sh1.82 billion at the end of March.
Top owners of the 36-year-old Kenyan bank with 28 branches were companies owned by close associates of the late Moi, including Joshua Kulei, Simeon Nyachae and the former Vice President George Saitoti.
The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) early January endorsed the deal that gives Access Bank a 97 percent stake in Transnational. The bank is the largest in Nigeria with assets worth Sh1.17 trillion.
Access Bank CEO Herbert Wigwe had said the lender would buy in cash and inject fresh capital into Transnational.
“It will be paid for in cash so we have taken out the existing shareholders and we will basically inject a bit more equity into the institution,” Mr Wigwe said in a recent transcript of a conference call.
Sovereign Trust, a company associated with Mr Kulei, a former aide of the ex-President, held 23.03 per cent shareholding in Transnational.
Simbi Investors, linked with Mr Nyachae, a former Cabinet minister during Mr Moi’s administration, held 8.2 million shares or 4.11 percent of the bank.
Losupuk Ltd, associated with the late former vice President George Saitoti, holds 2.79 per cent. The bank’s chairman has been Henry Kiptiony Kiplangat, who is also the vice-chancellor of Kabarak University, an institution owned by the Moi family.Andre DeSimone, formerly CEO of Kestrel Capital, was also a director at Transnational but retired […]