Nedbank Group plans to acquire approximately 66% of NCBA, a financial services group headquartered in Nairobi and listed on the NSE, for a total purchase consideration of USD 854mn (ZAR 13.9bn) based on the Nedbank issue price of ZAR 250.00 per share.
The remaining 34% will be held by public investors on the stock exchange.
The acquisition aligns with Nedbank Group’s strategy to grow and diversify its presence in Africa, with a clear focus on SADC and East Africa—a region of significant strategic importance that is underpinned by strong fundamentals, the size of its economy and represents the primary trade corridor that links Africa with the Middle East, India and Asia.
Furthermore, NCBA continues to grow its physical presence within the EAC (Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania) and its digital presence in Ghana and Ivory Coast.
Nedbank views the proposed transaction as bringing together two organisations with complementary strengths—NCBA’s brand, regional network, digital capabilities and deep customer reach with Nedbank Group’s corporate and investment banking competences, cross-border structuring capabilities and strong balance sheet.
Nedbank has a strategic objective to grow and diversify outside of its core Southern Africa market, and we identified East Africa as a key growth region. We are therefore excited to partner with a strong and leading financial services firm such as NCBA to deliver on our growth ambitions
Jason Quinn, CEO Nedbank
Nedbank Group has submitted its Notice of Intention to the board of directors of NCBA, the Kenya Capital Markets Authority and the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
Advisers
Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking acted as financial adviser to Nedbank Group, while Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr provided legal counsel. Its Kenyan adviser was Dyer and Blair Investment Bank.
About NCBA
The bank operates across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ivory Coast and Ghana. It has 122 branches which serve over 60mn customers—making it the largest banking group in Africa by customer numbers. It manages ZAR 84.4bn (KES 665bn) in assets and disburses more than ZAR 126.9bn (KES 1trn) in digital loans annually and has delivered an average return on equity of approximately 19% since 2021.
The bank was formed in 2019 through a merger of the NIC Group Plc and Commercial Bank of Africa.