Category Archives: Stanbic

CFC-Stanbic Bank EGM: merger approved

An extraordinary general meeting to approve the CFC – Stanbic merger was held on November 12 at the Intercontinental Hotel

Deal: Stanbic is the largest bank in Africa with a presence in 18 Africa countries and 21 others around the world (including Bank of America in Argentina which they just bought). It has assets of $140 billion and 43,000 employees – and by combining their (relatively) small Kenyan operation with CFC, they will become the 4th largest bank in Kenya.

Approval got: CMA, CBK, monopolies commission.
Approval to be got: shareholders, SA reserve bank, NSE.
The Deal should be complete in about a month.

The meeting was led by CFC Chairman Charles Njonjo. Fellow director J. Kierini introduced the board and, other dignitaries present who including D. Ndonye (Deloitte), Jimnah Mbaru, Kaplan & Stratton advisers, and Craig Bond and a team from Stanbic include his son who works at Stanbic Kenya.

CFC MD Soundararajan explained the rationale for the merger – synergies, very similar and complementary customers, regional opportunities, and enhanced capital adequacy. Customers will get a one-stop shop for all their business, staff get to work in a bigger bank with more careers opportunities (and all employees are assured of retaining their jobs).

Shareholder questions

  • Dilution of minority shareholding? : Management said they are getting into a bigger entity
  • Are major shareholders bailing? : Gambit will get paid in new shares but also about 5.8 billion shillings. MD answered that shareholders are staying and the company is not going anywhere
  • Mgmt. afraid to say that CFC being; Management says it’s a merger, and not a sale; the new entity will have 40% – CFC and 60% – Stanbic shareholders.
  • If CFC is growing well, why sell? Need for capital is important. MD said that he needs about $100 million, while the new entity will have around $60 – 70 million. The merger will enhance the company’s growth plans
  • Due diligence on Stanbic? ; Done and they shared strategies which each other to see if they were on the same path. Also, board member (and lawyer) Fred Ojiambo denied that a 25 billion shilling lawsuit had eroded the value of Stanbic (K) saying that claim had no firm base
  • Why no bonus shares instead of selling out?: MD said CFC had in the past given the largest bonus divided in the history of NSE 21 for 1 and the board will consider that at the right time

This is it: The historic moment passed in a flash as the Chairman proposed that all six resolutions be passed in a single vote since they were all interdependent.

The resolutions passed in a single vote:

  • Created 117 million new shares to accommodate Stanbic
  • Empowered the directors to allot shares to Stanbic
  • Changed the name of the company to CFC Stanbic Holdings
  • Transferred the bank business (assets, liabilities, employees, creditors etc.) to Stanbic
  • Amended the new articles of association
  • Changed the business of the company from a bank to a holding company
  • Now CFC Stanbic Holding co to remain listed on the NSE while CFC Stanbic Bank will be a 100% owned subsidiary

Other speakers

Craig Bond: The Head of Stanbic Africa, said they got lucky in Kenya as the first bank they identified turned out to be the right partner offering great synergies; in Nigeria, they have looked at 6 banks which have not panned out. He said that Stanbic which intends to be the ‘best emerging-markets bank’ in the world had identified 3 countries that they intended to dominate in Africa – SA, Nigeria and Kenya where they intend to break into the top 2 (not remain #4), by rapidly expanding branches in 2008.

Commenting on the largest bank in the world ICBC buying 20% of Stanbic (it’s 70% owned by the Government of China) – he said China is coming to Africa in a big way for her resources, and it offered Stanbic cheap money with the promise to match them $ for $ in any investment in Africa

NSE Chairman Jimnah Mbaru said he was proud that the deal happened under his watch and confirmed that he expected NSE to approve the deal by end of the week. He looked forward to having a big institution with the capital to enable the economy to meet growth goals in terms of resources. And finally called out to family-owned companies to see what could happen if they transform themselves into institutions as the late Mr. Jani had done with his firm which was now merging with Stanbic.

There were further tributes to the late Mr. Jani who created the company in 1951 with a vision for into to partner with an international powerhouse, MD Soundararajan and directors Njonjo and Kiereini for making the deal happen

Humorous moment: Chairman Charles Njonjo was sad that there were only ‘5’ shareholders present when the meeting started but got happy as the numbers had reached about 100 by the time it ended. However, it didn’t really matter as he had 45% proxies from Africa Liaison and Gambit while fellow director Kiereini had 30%.

Goodies: souvenir pen, umbrella, big lunch box with little food from intercontinental – (Fanta, cake, apple, and a bit of goat, chicken, and sausage)

other news

Barclays launched tranche one of its bond – 1 billion shillings, maturing in November 2014.

Rwanda and Burundi to join the East Africa Development Bank once they subscribed via share capital

Equity Bank extends banking hours to almost match office hours; 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. – Noon on Saturday

The National Housing Corporation is offering investors loans to build rural and peri-urban homes. The maximum loan amount is only 1.5 million shillings – and it’s advanced at 13% over up to 10 years

Sasanet investors want to notify partners, bankers, and other companies (including Safaricom) that the company had not refunded investors their funds.

Urban transport gets more expensive as all the major transporters Citi Hoppa, KBS and matatu owners start a blanket 10 shilling per ride fare hike to counter rising fuel prices

Opportunities

  • Celtel territory sales executives (17). D/l is 16/11
  • IT manager at EA Cables. apply thru deloitte esd@deloitte.co.ke
  • Jamii Telecommunications: account managers (3). d/l is 16/11
  • KBR various jobs in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait. But …
  • Madison: finance manager, senior investments manager
  • Microsoft: public sector lead account manager – public sector & education solution sales professional (business productivity), infrastructure consultant, MBA graduate
  • Head of ICT services – Standard Group. d/l is 13/11
  • Chief Operating Officer at Renaissance capital. apply to coo@rencap.com by 19/11

Bank Wars

Equity vs. Barclays
Equity Bank is often cited as being what caused banks, especially Barclays Bank to change their focus. But is it true, or is Barclays expanding all over Africa not just Kenya, in terms of opening new branches and expanding into the retail sector.

political muscle: A recent editorial strongly defended Equity and it has also received strong defense from Government ministers whenever allegations have been thrown against the bank.

Equity has also not been shy in employing political muscle themselves. The delayed conversion of rival building society into Family Bank has been linked to Equity’s influence and the bank was also instrumental suffocating pyramid schemes who grew to rival banks for deposits while ironically relying on banks for their massive fund transfers to/from investors.

Equity in 2008: Even if 2008 brings in a new government, Equity Bank should be ok. While the current government has been kind to Equity, giving it the space and access to market, environment to expand, Equity has been smart to use their access to Government to grow, without necessarily going to bed with the government. I.e. targeting government and parastatal deposits and banking business. Equity has expanded nationwide and has customers throughout the country and a positive image as a mwananchi bank. Think Kenol, not Mugoya for Equity next year, if the election follows the current polls

other banking briefs

Barclays bond: Barclays Kenya will issue a $75 million bond over 7 years.
Seem receptive, though their last bond to finance a mortgage business was scuttled by former finance minister who asked that the bank invest new money into Kenya, not borrow from the local market. That should whet the appetite for corporate investors who may be put off by the anticipated over-subscription (wasted funds, lost opportunity, delayed refunds) of a Safaricom IPO

But is Barclays parent in trouble? The global financial crisis has also taken done in the Citi (bank) CEO

Merger slows It’s a shame that the CFC-Stanbic merger can be jeopardized by a frivolous lawsuit frivolous lawsuit. How does a 50 million shilling dispute balloon into a 25 billion shilling lawsuit for damages?

City Finance is expected to be taken over by new owners. Kenya’s smallest bank should get a boost from new owners – as it is the only loss making bank so far this year. As at June this year, it had assets of just 510 million shillings ($7.7 million) in assets, deposits of of 131m, and loans 218m.

Collapsed banks update: Capital Finance and Pioneer Building Society are to be wound up while customers of Daima Bank will be paid another dividend

Bad loan relief?: The interest rates advisory centre offers loan and mortgage interest recalculation, financial cost assurance (overdraft, loan interest), in-duplum interest recalculation for the period (1/1/2001 to 31/7/2005) and informs its clients that that all bank charges from 1/11/89 may be illegal!

Though IRAC won against Housing Finance, bad debt relief may be a pipe dream for most, except for a few instances

Other corporate news

Keroche going into beer production after huge bill handed to them of unpaid taxes. This is the last thing that Kenya Breweries wanted to hear

The Minister for Finance has approve the takeover of Kobil Petroleum by sister company Kenya Oil Company Limited (Kenol). But Kobil is/was a Delaware corporation?

Fake sugar: Strange saga of a ship which arrived at Mombasa with contraband sugar already packaged in Mumias sugar bags – ready to go to store shelves. Packing sugar in their ‘produced in Kenya’ branded bags has been a key branding initiative by Mumias to differentiate it from imported sugar and seems to have worked, but counterfeiters can only be kept at bay for so long

Wananchi TV: convergence as Kenya’s largest ISP wananchi is going into partnership with GTV to begin high speed cable and satellite TV all in one package.

Also mobile TV on phones : a few months ago, the bosses of Kenya Broadcasting Corporation were on TV from a golf tournaments talking about their plans for the rest of the year which included launching a new radio station and also coming up with the first news broadcast via mobile phones by September. (Read on – KBC is a shareholder in the local multichoice Kenya)

Opportunities

– A new Equity Fund in Kenya urgently looking for a financial systems engineer with banking experience. Apply to ndeman2@yahoo.com

– Apprentice to Africa. The Apprentice Challenge comes to Africa – with $200,000 in prize money

Tax Collection is Unprofitable

KRA shocker: The Kenya Revenue Authority, the organization which has re-written our donor relationship, championed responsibility/awareness of tax paying among citizens, spurred parastatals to start paying dividends back to the government (instead of draining it) and enable the fixing of the economy – is not profitable!

Year end results (June 2006) show the tax collector with income of 4.8 billion and expenditure of 6.0 billion – meaning a deficit of 1.2 billion and that compares to 2005 when they just about broke even with 5.1 billion of both income and expenditure. They also don’t have the title-deed to their headquarters – Times Tower worth 2.5 billion that is still in the name of Central Bank (for whom the tower was built).

Stanbic CFC merger approved:  The Finance Minister has approved the merger between Stanbic and CFC paving the creation of the country’s 4th largest bank (see bank rankings and an earlier comparison of the parties)

The combined, but yet to be named, bank will have assets of over 55 billion shillings ($800 million), deposits of 43 billion, loans of 30 billion and a pre tax profit as at June 2007 of 934 million ($14 million)

Capital markets authority (CMA) approval should be a formality, as they have already been assured that the new bank will remain listed on the NSE.

MP behaving badly: A high-flying MP has grabbed i.e. taken over and fenced the parking lot of a popular Nairobi Sports Pub which he frequents the place – even as he is trying to extract an exorbitant rent from the pub for use of the yard.

Kenya Bank Rankings

June 2007 [ and change from June 2006]

Tier I banks
1. Barclays Kshs. 136.54 billion in assets ($1.95 billion) (up 21% from June 2006)
2. Kenya Commercial 96,532 [17%]
3. Standard Chartered 92, 743 [13%]
4. Cooperative 58,712 [3%]
5. CFC /Stanbic 55,534 +
6. National Bank of Kenya 42, 142 [25%]
7 Commercial Bank of Africa 36,217 [10%]
8. Citibank Kenya 36,147 [8%]
9. Equity 29,888 [116%]
– CFC 27,926 [25%]
– Stanbic 27, 608 [62%]
10. NIC 27,583 [22%]

Tier 2 banks
11. Investment & Mortgages 24,494 ($349 million) [19%]
12. Diamond Trust 24, 484 [37%]
13. Baroda13,253 [24%]
14. Imperial 11,039 [30%]
15. Prime 10,773 [25%]
16. Housing Finance 9,665 [-2%]
17. Bank of India 9,552 [21%]
18. EABS 9,049 [5%]
19. Fina 7,688 [25%]
20. Bank of Africa 7,347 [26%]
21. Family Finance 6,698 [73%]
22. K-Rep 6,358 [43%]

Tier 3 banks
23. Habib AG Zurich 5,393 ($77 million) [5%]
24. Giro 5,317 [3%]
25. ABC 5,282 [10%]
26. Guardian 4,970 [2%]
27. Chase 4,826 [74%]
28. Southern Credit 4,581 [8%]
29. Victoria 4,081 [2%]
30. Consolidated 4,001 [28%]
31. Development Bank of Kenya (DBK) 3,876 [35%]
32. Equatorial 3,832 [5%]
33. Habib Bank 3,485 [10%]
34. Middle East 3,309 [-9%]
35. Credit 2,963 [5%]
36. Fidelity 2,779 [43%]
37. Transnational 2,720 [24%]
38. Paramount Universal 2,271 [27%]
39. Oriental (formerly Delphis) 1,624 [17%]
40. Dubai 1,437 [26%]
41. City Finance 510
— Charterhouse 3,938
+ Merger, awaiting approval

Asset growth
industry average 24%
Equity 116%
Chase 74%
Family Finance 73%
Stanbic 62%
K-Rep 43%

Profit growth
average 76%
Bank of Africa 825%
Habib bank 467%
Giro 300%
Paramount universal 300%
Fidelity 222%
EABS 200%
Southern credit 186%
Chase 179%
Oriental 115%
Equity 107%

Loan grwoth
average 19%
Equity 785
Family Finance 67%
K-Rep 66%
Diamond Trust 51%
KCB 49%

Deposit growth
average 25%
Equity 111%
Stanbic 95%
Chase 84%
DBK 63%
Family finance 57%

Bank Sold

Name this bank?
The deal of the year brings together Stanbic and CFC Banks merge together and is expected to be finalized next month with only Central bank and CMA approval left.

The combined, but yet to be named, bank will have assets of over 55 billion shillings ($800 million), deposits of 43 billion, loans of 30 billion and a pre tax profit as June 2007 of 934 million ($14 million)

Mzalendo bank account
Commenting on the report on bank charges released this week, The Governor of the Central Bank called for a Mzalendo bank account which would probably be akin to mzansi from South Africa which is a low cost account at several banks (with wide branch networks – e.g. KCB, Equity, Postbank) that has similar features and charges at all the banks

banking is not cheap

A recent report released on the banking sector shoed that banking not cheap is not cheap for most account holders .

This should not be a surprise to the public who read about the bank profits or the authorities who are sent all charges and tariffs by the banks each month

There’s already been grumbling from research firms ho say a local firm could have carried out the survey and some banks who say the report is inaccurate.

Earlier, some advertised banking is unexpectedly not as cheap