In a press release, the Central Bank of Kenya announced that Egypt’s Commercial International Bank (CIB) had acquired 51 percent of Mayfair Bank Limited (MBL), one of Kenya’s youngest financial institutions. The acquisition comes into effect on May 1.
CIB, Egypt’s largest private banking enterprise, paid US$35.35 million for the 51 percent share in MBL, which has only been operating since August 2017 and has captured a mere 0.17 percent of the Kenyan market share. CIB chairman and managing director Hisham Ezz Al-Arab described the acquisition as part of a strategy to expand in Africa.
A Win for Kenya and Egypt
The Central Bank of Kenya said the acquisition was expected to diversify and strengthen the resilience of the Kenyan banking sector.
And for Egypt, expanding its fiscal portfolio into East Africa may win the country support in its diplomatic disputes with Ethiopia over objections to the implementation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, and help to mitigate economic losses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
