South Africa’s Nedbank clears regulatory hurdle for NCBA takeover in Kenya

South Africa’s Nedbank (JSE:NED) has received approval from
Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) to acquire a 66% stake in
NCBA Group (NSE:NCBA), one of East Africa’s largest financial
services providers, in a deal valued at around R13.9bn ($867.28mn),
BusinessTech reported.

The acquisition will make NCBA a subsidiary of Nedbank while the
remaining 34% of shares continue trading on the Nairobi Securities
Exchange (NSE). The offer is structured as 20% cash and 80% Nedbank
ordinary shares listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) at
an issue price of R250 ($15.60) per share. The offer was
conditional on CMA granting an exemption from the requirement to
extend a mandatory takeover for 100% of NCBA shares by 31 May 2026.
With the exemption now granted, Nedbank can proceed with the
partial acquisition.

Nedbank has now secured Irrevocable Undertakings from NCBA
shareholders representing approximately 77.54% of the group’s total
issued shares, indicating broad support for the transaction.

Jason Quinn, Nedbank CEO, said as quoted by
BusinessTech: “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.”

NCBA Group, based in Nairobi, posted profit after tax of KES
21.9bn ($169.77mn) in 2024, up from KES 21.5bn ($166.67mn) in 2023,
with total assets of KES 666bn ($5.16bn) and deposits of KES 502bn
($3.89bn). Growth was driven by digital lending, with over KES 1
trillion ($7.75bn) disbursed. In the nine months to September 2025,
profit rose 8.5% to KES 16.4bn ($127.13mn).

The bank offers retail, corporate and investment banking, and
ranks among Africa’s largest banks by customer numbers. Its
non-performing loan ratio was 11.2%, with 60% impairment coverage,
reflecting a strong balance sheet, TechCabal
reported.

According to Kenya Data and Statistics, Kenya has over 55mn people, with a
banking sector worth about KES 6.5 trillion ($50.39mn), roughly 66%
of GDP. Financial and insurance services account for 7.8% of GDP,
underlining the sector’s economic importance.

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