On Wednesday, June 8, Nigeria’s Access Bank announced its acquisition of Kenyan bank, Sidian Bank from Centum Investments for KSh 4.3 billion.
In a statement, Centum CEO James Mworia said Access Bank Plc acquired 83.4 percent stake in Sidian Bank.
“Centum Investment Company Plc (‘Centum’) announces today that it has entered into a binding agreement with Access Bank Plc (‘Access Bank’) regarding a proposed purchase by Access Bank of Centum’s entire equity stake in Sidian Bank Limited
“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,” Mworia said.
Access Corporation, the parent company of Access Bank entered the Kenyan market in 2020 with the buyout of Transnational Bank.
Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) reports showed that Access Bank completed 100 per cent acquisition of Transnational Bank on February 1, 2020 for KSh 1.4 billion.
Access Bank is a Nigerian multinational commercial bank licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria with a total asset base of approximately KSh 1.61 trillion.
The bank has subsidiaries in D.R Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Rwanda, Zambia, Sierra Leone, and United Kingdom. It also maintains representative offices in China, India, Lebanon and United Arab Emirates.
In 2021, Access Bank announced that it had identified eight new African countries for potential expansion, seeking to benefit from a continent-wide free trade agreement.
The target markets are Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Angola, Namibia and Ethiopia, which would extend the international presence of the bank to 18 countries.
The bank was originally a corporate bank but they expanded into personal and business banking in 2012.
In 2019, Access Bank merged with Diamond Bank unveiling its new logo signalling the commencement of a new enlarged banking entity.
As of 2021, the bank employs more than 28,000 people in 2021.
After the merger, with more than 42 million of customers, Access Bank plc became the largest bank in Africa by customer base, and the largest bank in Nigeria by asset.
