2024 did not experience a lot of mergers and takeovers, with the few that happened mainly focusing on stake acquisition.
The dull market could be attributed to an unstable economy, which was experienced in the first few months of 2024 leading to the exponential fall of the Kenyan shilling against major international currencies.
Here are some of the major mergers and takeovers that happened in 2024;
NCBA acquires AIG
In July 2024, NCBA Bank completed the process to acquire a 100 per cent stake in AIG Kenya Insurance.
NCBA, born out of a merger between NIC Group and CBA Group in 2019, is the third-largest banking Group in East Africa with a network of 107 branches.
“Insurance is increasingly becoming a basic financial need for the type of customer that NCBA serves. We believe that by bringing together NCBA’s physical and digital distribution platforms and AIG Kenya’s insurance capabilities we will accelerate towards our ambition to become a universal bank that addresses a full set of our customers’ financial needs,” NCBA Group Managing Director John Gachora said then.
Ascent Capital
In May 2024, Ascent Capital acquired a 49 per cent stake in Dune Packaging Limited, a paper manufacturer.
“This approval is based on the finding that the transaction is unlikely to neither negatively impact competition in the paper and polypropylene packaging market, nor elicit negative public interest concerns, two key considerations during merger analysis,” the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) said in May.
Dune Packaging is incorporated in Kenya and is involved in the business of manufacturing paper packaging materials used in various industries including food, beverage, pharmaceutical and retail.
Africinvest
In June 2024, private equity fund Africinvest purchased a 10.13 per cent stake in I&M Group, a listed lender, in a deal valued at Ksh6.5 billion.
The deal was first floated in November 2023 and approved by CAK in March 2024 before being finalised in June 2024.
Centum
Centum acquired a 37.5 per cent stake in Akiira Geothermal in August, increasing its stake to 75 per cent.
Other shareholders in Akiira include Marine Power Generation (15 per cent) and RAM Energy Inc (10 per cent).
