EQUITY, KCB BUYOUTS: THE MAKING OF $15B REGION’S BANKING GIANTS

Kenya’s two biggest banks, Equity and KCB, are locked in an acquisitions and expansion race that has seen them build an asset base of more than Ksh1.5 trillion ($15 billion) spread across 10 African countries.

The two lenders have in recent months announced a flurry of local and cross-border acquisitions, fuelling their dream of becoming pan-African lenders with geographical spread and financial muscle to compete with their much bigger South and West African rivals.

This past week, Equity Bank announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire a majority stake in the Commercial Bank of the Congo, commonly known as the Banque Commercial du Congo (BCDC).

BCDC is the second-largest lender in the DRC by assets, estimated at $700 million.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the next three months, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.

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