Countdown to REIT’s in Kenya

This week CFCLIfe and Stanlib managers held a media briefing on Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT's) in Kenya and their possible impact on the local property scene.  REIT’s are common around the world, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria have had legislation for them, and finally, there's a Kenya law on REIT's in place (July 2013) after many years of formulation and review.

Stanlib Kenya  plan to launch REIT's in Kenya in September 2014 - and the law allows for two kinds - Income REIT’s and Develoment REIT’s. Some unique features about REIT's (which will cost between Kshs 100 - 300 million to set up with a minimum of 7 promoters) include they must distribute about 80% of profits to investors, and investors can sign on to I-REIT's for as low as Kshs 5,000.

The speakers noted that many large landlords in Kenya are quite comfortable earning incomes of less than 5% on their assets, when they could be earning quite a bit more (10% - 20%) by signing up with REIT’s - which are tax exempt and offer diversification (can invest in strong properties prisons, hospitals, malls) with more liquidity for all investors who participate in the REIT. While there's saturation as the high end of the property market, and expensive land prices are still climbing,  there are still great opportunities at the mid- and lower- residential and commercial income segments. Also the Kenya UN classification was upgraded which means that from a previous 45, over 180 countries will now have officials accredited to the UN living in Nairobi. 

Also licensed as REIT managers alongside Stanlib in April, were CIC Assets and Fusion Investments.

Answers to @ColdTusker's questions:

• The minimum amount of initial assets for an D-Reit is 100M and for a D-Reit is Kshs 300M
• D-REIT in the act is defined as "a development and construction real estate investment trust" is for sophisticated investors e.g for property developers to put up properties. They have shorter lifespans - and YES they can convert to I-Reit's which are for income from established properties. D-Reit’s can borrow up to 50% of assets, and i-Reit’s only 35%, also i-Reit’s must have 75% of portfolio in properties, and D-Reits have to have sunk 30% of their funds into property within year 1 
• Centum 2 Rivers was mentioned as the planned largest mall in Eastern Africa - with Carrefour as an anchor along with other foreign shops as main tenants (not the usual local supermarket and shops in the stores)..interesting as Carrefour seems to be withdrawing from emerging markets -  http://qz.com/231405/carrefours-india-exit-has-little-to-do-with-the-governments-reservations-on-retail/

Site vs. Site

The online share buying platforms of CFCStanbic Financial Services (SBG Securities) and Dyer & Blair Investment Bank are eerily similar.

2011 Kenya Bank Rankings Final Word

Local banks rules, but KCB holds off Equity

The top local Kenyan banks as at December 2011, ranked by assets are:

6 (6 last year) CFC Stanbic Bank: Steady assets of Kshs 140 billion ($1.7 billion) and profit of Kshs 3.1 billion ($38 million)

5 (4) Standard Chartered: Assets up 15% to Kshs 164 billion , and profits went up 8% to Kshs 8.25 billion. Deposits grew 22%, and loans went up 48% as they halved their government securities to Kshs24 billion. (Barclays & KCB also reduced their government securities positions compared to December 2010)

4 (2) Barclays: Drop from 4 to 2, but still have the best return on assets at 7.18% on a slightly smaller asset base of Kshs 167 billion. Profits went up 11% to Kshs 12.01 billion, and loans went up 14%, but there was no change in deposits.

3 (3) Cooperative: Was leap-frogged by Equity Bank, but gained a place thanks to shrinking Barclays. Steady but slow growth as assets grew by 9% to Kshs 167 billion, deposits grew by 15% and profits by 11% to Kshs. 6.16 billion as the bank still seeks to move beyond the cooperative sector.

2 (5) Equity Bank: Leap from No. 5 to 2 after reporting assets of Kshs. 177 billion and profits of Kshs. 12.1 billion, signifying growth of about 32%. for each. The years of annual 100% growth are over but as John Staley the Director of Mobile Banking and Payment Innovations, told attendees at HP leadership event dubbed Staying Ahead of the Pack, the bank has grown ten-fold every five years leveraging on technology and always with the mission to provide affordable financial services which they now plan to take beyond Uganda and Sudan.

No.1 (last year No. 1) KCB assets of 282 billion ($3.45 billion) and profit of Kshs. 14 billion ($172 million) KCB remains at number and matched Equity, growing deposits by 29%, loans 31%, and profits by 22%.

2010 Kenya Bank Rankings Part II

Comparing to last year’s Top 10 list.

I&M Bank: Sits, at number eleven, for the year, just outside the top 10, but made more profit than two of the top banks . I&M had an exciting year, with a November rights issue targeting to raise Kshs 2.4 billion ($30 million); they also launched an e-commerce platform, bought stakes in banks in Mauritius and Tanzania and got investment funding from Proparco & DEG.

10. Diamond Trust (2009 rank 10): Assets of Kshs 58.2 billion ($727 million) and nine month profits of Kshs 2.3 billion ($29 million) – had growth across the board of 30% compared to a year ago and with a good income outlook and very low NPA. Expanding to Burundi while other banks have headed to Rwanda, and Chairman stepped down to take up similar post at the revived Air Uganda.

9. Citibank Kenya (2009: 7): Assets of 63.9 billion ($798 million) and nine month profits of 2.15 billion ($27 million). A quiet year for the bank but ramped up in Q3 this year and that will impact year-end numbers, which were flat before that. MD Ade Ayeyemi moved on to other bank operations, and the bank has been unable to shake off local stockbroker allegations that they are holding Safaricom IPO refunds from investors since 2008

8. Commercial Bank of Africa (2009: 9): Assets of 65 billion ($813 million) and nine-month profits of 1.9 billion ($23.7 million) . A quiet year for the bank which has grown by about 40% since a year ago, but which will soon have to raise compliance capital from its shareholders.

7. National Bank of Kenya (2009: 8): Assets of 67.4 billion ($842 million) and nine month profits of 1.9 billion ($24.8 million). And has ramped up lending including mortgages and seen improved profits. The replacement of long serving CEO is up in the air are Government plans to privatize the bank with plans shifting toward private investor as opposed to offering more shares to the public

6. CFC-Stanbic (2009: 6): Assets of Kshs 104 billion ($1.3 billion) and nine month profits of 1.5 billion ($18.8 million). The sleeping giant created by the merger of two mid size banks is still treading, and though with improved profit, they are still the lowest of the top 10 banks.

5. Equity Bank(2009: 5): Assets of 129 billion ($1.61 billion) and profits of 6.8 billion ($84 million) . For the second year slightly reduced growth to 40 - 50% not the 100% of years past. The bank had a shift in direction towards an agency branch model using mobile phones to reach its 5 million plus customers, and after the rapid growth of m-kesho ( a partnership with Safaricom,), they have in the last two months also signed on with Orange and Essar, tying up 3 of the 4 Telco’s with mobile money.

Diversification has been a mixed bag, with good results from Sudan and M-kesho, but not so (yet) with Uganda, investment banking, and Housing Finance, which while initially unwelcome it appears that HF shareholders would now welcome a merger. Still, this could be the year they clinch the highest profit crown in the Kenya banking sector.

4. Standard Chartered (2009: 3): Assets of 134.6 billion ($1.68 billion) and profits of Kshs 6.1 billion ($77 million) in nine months. Had an over-subscribed rights issue and took over the custody business that Barclays sold in Africa. They make good money from corporate loans and from government securities – they have almost as much paper ($650 million) as they do in customer loans.

3. Cooperative Bank ( 2009: 4): Assets of 141.1 billion ($1.76 billion) and nine-month profits of 4.3 billion ($53.7 million) . overall growth of ~40% with group assets about the same, and diversification has included buying stake in CIC insurance, stock broking and have talked about going into South Sudan and other East Africa countries

2. Barclays(2009: 1): Assets of 177 billion (2.2 billion), with nine month profit of 7 billion ($87 million). This big bank has nowhere to go, with growth of 5% from a year ago, can they buy up some smaller banks? They shed their Africa custody business to standard chartered and got into an m-pesa banking partnership belatedly after pushing their own mobile money platform for two years.
Site of planned KCB new HQ building, opp Equity Bank Centre, Upper Hill Nairobi
1 KCB (2009: 2): Assets of Kshs 218.2 billion ($2.72 billion) and nine month profit of 6.39 billion ($80 million). Had a rights issue earlier in the year, that raised $156 million and they plan to put up a new headquarters in upper hill. But with total group assets of 244 billion, the bank was third in profit behind Barclays and Equity after Q3.

Online Share Trading in Kenya

Tonight CFC Stanbic Financial Services launched online share trading which they say is the first online share trading platform in the country. The actual ceremony was conducted by Information Permanent Secretary Bitange Ndemo (a Mumias shareholder through CSFS) who noted that while Diaspora Kenyans remitted $2 billion per year, they hand no true seamless mechanism to buy shares – until now.

It’s a light-weight system accessible to CSFS customers to make trade orders – buy, sell, cancel, monitor volumes, settlements, & trade live at the Nairobi Stock Exchange in real time as well as get statements & portfolio valuations.

Disclaimer: I’ve been a long-term investor through CSFS primarily through e-mailing trades, and this has been quite satisfactory. Enabling online share trading is a service which several brokers have promoted, but delivery has been spotty. The CSFS system is available even on Smartphones,and while SMS and mobile money are not highlighted, these will be features to push for and the service is one to try out and see.

CFC Stanbic 2010 AGM

The CFC Stanbic Holdings annual general meeting (AGM) for 2010 was held on May 21 at the tented parking at CFC Centre, off Museum Hill, Nairobi. (twitter @Standardbankgrp)

The Managing Director re-capped the year’s performance of the group companies. CFC Stanbic (bank) had a flat profit of 1.9 billion [$25 million], CFC financial services (stockbroker) lost 108 million [-$1.4m], CFC Life (insurance) lost 433 million [-$5.6m] while Heritage (insurance) had a profit of 278 million [$3.6m]. He attributed the performance to impairment of the stock portfolio at the Nairobi stock exchange which declined by 60%, increased operating costs (New IT system, write-off old IT system, opening of new branches, and refurbishing/rebranding of all other branches) overall operating income was up 25% in 2009, but operating costs went up 46%. Finally, he added that the first quarter of 2010 has seen a good performance – with good earnings from forex and government securities, and the NSE rebound has good for their portfolio this year

Hot Button Issue: Poor performance of the Group /companies was cause for concern among several shareholders who asked questions citing:
- High operating expenses of 6 billion
- Item of ‘other expenses ‘ totaling 3.4 billion ($45 million) that were not detailed in the notes
-Ill-feeling, that when they approved the CFC Stanbic merger they were told that the group would have a leaner management structure would lead to cost savings across the group, and this has not happened
- Company used to be generous & give bonuses, but looking at the results, this is not going to happen any time soon!

In reply, the Board referred back to the MD’s earlier statement that had broken down the major cost items as well as the decline in the company’s NSE portfolio that had resulted in their auditors asking that they factor in an impairment provision of about 700 million while the others were the IT costs, advertising/branding branch refurbishment across the group, not just bank business.

Why new borrowing?: a corporate bond of 2.5 billion [$32.5m]was asked about. Notes also show increase loan from IFC of 759 million and new loans from other banks - NIC (200m) and CBA (500m). MD said the bond and loans were to support their mortgage business, which has been one of their better performing lines, and also support their subordinate capital position. .
(500m)

Banking sector fraud is high even as the group invests in new system and new products like electronic banking, there is a lot of fraud in the sector with customers losing their money to bank insider, and are Kenyan laws keeping up with new fraudsters. MD replied that the new system was safer.

Long-serving Chairman Exits: During director elections, the chairman Charles Njonjo announced that Mike Du Toit (long time Stanbic K MD), Titus Naikuni (MD of Kenya Airways) and himself who were all up for re-election were all stepping down, but added that Du Toit would take up other responsibilities within the group. On his part he thanked shareholders for their support though the years and said he was proud that the company that he, Jeremiah Kiereini (fellow powerful director), and PK Jani had started many years ago had grown into a conglomerate which now had undergone many recent changes and there were many new faces (and more women) who did not know his face, He said Kiereini , who will remain on the board for a few more years, would look after his interests but that he would still be around next year, as a shareholder on the floor, to ask questions of the board. Re-elected directors were Eddy Njoroge (Kengen MD), Fred Ojiambo (Nairobi lawyer), Jane Babsa-Nzibo and Greg Brackenridge who will be the new Bank CEO?

Bonus at next meeting: an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders will be called later in the year to approve the hiving off of the insurance business (CFC Life and Heritage) into a new company (in a deal with Liberty Holdings & African Liaissons Consultants)that will also be listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. Current CFCStanbic shareholders will receive a dividend in specie of 1 share of the new company for every 1 CFC share they currently hold, at no additional cost.

Goodies: - lunch box (flat rice & chicken piece), soda, umbrella (which I lost an hour later)
- scary? annual report was 114 pages long without as ingle picture or CSR fluff page. Shareholders also, after several questions, approved a motion allowing the company to publish account sin the newspapers, have it on their website or e-mail it to shareholders in lieu of having to print and mail one to every shareholder.

2009 Kenya Bank Rankings Part II

10. Diamond Trust (2008 rank 11) : assets of 44.9 billion ($600 million) and nine month profits of 1 billion ($14.2 million). Loans (28.6 b) grew faster than deposits (33.1b), but expenses also grew faster than income. Neck and next with NIC and I&M banks with 44 and 41 billion in assets in position 11 and 12 respectively.
9. Commercial Bank of Africa (7): assets of 52 billion and nine month profits of 1.39 billion. Deposits flat (40 b) but loans (28.2 b) are up 20% this year and with GOK paper up 77%, however income and expenses are lower than 2008.

8. National Bank of Kenya (9): assets of 55.2 billion and nine profits of 1.4 billion. The bank is in great demand with a planned further divestment by GoK which may attract significant interest next year. For 2009, NBK has had a remarkable 40% growth this year, with 27% loans (12 b) and 48% in deposits (41 b)

7. Citibank Kenya (8) assets of 55.6 billion ($742 million) and nine month profit of 2.3 billion ($31 million). while embattled in the US, Citibank had a slow down in growth of loans (22.7 b) and deposits (29.7 b) compared to ‘08 but will still record a healthy +20% growth for year 2009.

6. CFC Stanbic (4) assets of 83.5 billion and nine month profits of 981 million. Bank had no growth in loans (43 b) and assets, but sitting on a load of cash - almost 16b billion (~$214 million)

5. Equity Bank (6) assets of 92.4 billion and nine month profits of 4.2 billion. Equity is still one of Kenya’s fastest growing banks though the 100% growth margins have tapered off to more manageable 30%+ for loans (55 b)and deposits (63 b) as it expands regionally in Uganda and Sudan and continues to roll out unique banking products.

4. Cooperative Bank of Kenya(5) with assets of 98 billion and nine month profits of 2.9 billion. The bank continues its 20%+ annual growth a year after listing and has diversified into investment banking. However their re-jigged executive shareholding following n ESOP is a sore point to be debated further.

3. Standard Chartered 3 with assets of 122 billion ($1.6 billion) and nine month profits of 5.2 billion ($69 million). Despite my earlier negative outlook, stanchart was a late bloomer and has come on strong: significantly, unlike other big banks, stanchart grew faster this year compared to 2008 - with 18% growth in deposit (89 b) and loans (40 b) while profits are up by 40% as income is up 23% compared to just 5% for costs while spearheading technologial products & services to their customers. Also increased investment in government securities by 77% and holds ~ Kshs. 36 billion now.

2. KCB (2) assets of 163 billion ($2.17 billion) and nine month profits of almost 5 billion ($66 million). KCB group is larger than Barclays in assets (185 b to 168 b) but has a smaller asset base than last year. In 2009 deposits (133 b) and loans (93 b) are up over 20% but profit is up just 3% - income is up 11% but expenses are up 15%, as KCB continued its expansion, opening six branches in November and also expanding in Rwanda Uganda, South Sudan and soon to Burundi. The bank also continues to weather occasional storms against it sustainability with triton and now Kenya planters coffee union.

1. Barclays Kenya (1)assets of 168 billion ($2.25 billion) and nine month profits of 6.63 billion ($88 million) . Barclays shrunk by 2% compared to growth of 17% a year ago with lower deposits (123 b) and loans (96 b) compared to a year ago but with profits ahead of last years pace, perhaps boosted by GoK securities investments which are up 23% this year.

Week on Twitter: September 22

Another re-cap of a week full of Twitter - @bankelele posts which included issues like Olympia prepares for shareholders then postpone AGM, a skunkworks forum and a fibre summit are coming to Nairobi this week, but how is the fibre being used in government? There’s a new newspaper from the government of Kenya and a new magazine from EAM. Charterhouse bank may re-open while PTA bank has a silent bond, Kenya airways flies to ndola while Emirates air starts selling world cup 2010 packages, and finally twitter matures by enabling medical advice for Kahenya, drawing in the US ambassador to Kenya and also by helping Stanbic Bank improve customer service

- East Africa Fibre Summit - in Kenya next week http://www.aitecafrica.com/...
Emirates Air starts selling 2010 World Cup South Africa Packages http://tinyurl.com/pbj7e3 (where's SAA, @kenyaairways, Ethiopian?)
New GoK newspaper title Kenya Today; first issue has bullet trains, brigadier Ali, SMEs, IdiAmin, MJ, and rants about parliamentary dictatorship & NYTimes writers – all at a cost of Kshs 30/=
- @SupremeGREAM I'd be very surprised if Charterhouse Bank reopens. It will be like re-licensing Triton; @kachwanya is correct, something is smoking at Charterhouse http://bit.ly/3lk8d2
- R/T @kaboro Skunkworks Tech & Entrepreneur Forum, 29Sep Speakers: Liko Agosta, Verviant, Joshua Wanyama, Pamoja, Alex Gakuru.
- Help @kahenya with medical advice http://bit.ly/1YDJ3F #rhabdomyolysis
- @RookieKE CFA one very tough exam, it has driven some very bright professionals up the wall. CFA pass rates Level I: 46% Level II: 41% Level III: 49% @kainvestor http://tinyurl.com/mwegha i salute those who have tried it
- Tiomin say they have made progress with Canadian and Chinese investors on #kwale. Wait till they get to environment minister #michuki
- Kenya government has asked all ministries/agencies to email copies of procurement tenders - to be complied at a portal http://www.tenders.go.ke/ ; also http://www.tandaa.co.ke/ which is "all about Kenyan content" has NO KENYAN CONTENT! Just Anheuser Busch, French news, love in Warsaw...
- @kenyaairways 44th destination launch flight lands in Ndola #Zambia http://bit.ly/hMFk5
- Barclays waives joining fee for gold (6K) & classic (3k) cards http://www.barclays.com/afr... #youllpaysomehow @coldtusker i have no credit card, i can usually tap family or friends #TIA
- R/t @joosi @davos World Economic Forum (WEF) to be in Tanzania May '10. Nairobi star said kofi annan steered it away from Kenya’s bad leadership
-
#Newshot and #bullseye are not too funny: seems marende may have banned use of parliamentary clips for satire. Did njoki spell stakeholder as steakholder in her protest letter? #NTV
- Sunday nation writes about US ambassador on twitter @usamb4reform, but twitter yet to be taken up keenly in Kenya unlike facebook
- Nairobi water company appoints 4 debt collection agencies
- PTA Bank has a $21 million 14% bond in Uganda closing Oct 2. Pity they stopped updating their website http://www.ptabank.org
- New women's magazine called Move out this week from EAM, costs just Kshs. 80 ($1) http://www.drum.co.ke/node/... was true love too pricey for the ladies?
- Twitter improves bank service R/T @coldtusker Thanks to @StandardBankGrp I got a call from CFCStanbic Kenya re: my problems at the bank
- R/t @kainvestor Kenya Ministry of Water office connected to fibre cable! But nobody knows what do with it...just watching movies online.

Olympia CEO comments South Africa has been a real challenge, but we still believe in the market M Matu http://tinyurl.com/klheg7 ; later Olympiacapital muddle continues, now AGM postponed to 2nd-oct cause delayed fin statement dispatch

Kenya Bank Rankings 2008 Part II

Follow up to part I and tracks change from December 2007 to 2008 in assets and profits

Tier 1 (Assets over 25 billion shillings)
1 KCB (2) 174,712-assests (Kshs. 175 billion, $2.18 billion) 5,394 million ($67million)-profits 109,845-deposits 79,343-Loans (assets up 55%, profits up40 %, overtake Barclays to be No. 1)
2 Barclays (1) 168,786-a 8,016-p 126,408-d 108,086-L (assets up 7%, profits up 13 %)
3 Standard Chartered (3) 99,140-a 4,709-p 76,898-d 43,299-L 8% (assets up 8%, profits down 4 %)
4 Cooperative (4) 83,918-a 3,337-p 65,934-d 53,293-L (assets up 28%, profits up 46 %)
5 (--) CFC Stanbic 83,166-a 1,313-p 61,529-d 44,205-L (new bank created by merger combined assets up 34%)
6 Equity (6) 77,135-a 4,757-p 48,977-d 40,858-L (assets up 45%, profits up 101%)
7 Commercial Bank of Africa (8) 50110-a 1694-p 41715-d 26309-L (assets up 27%, profits up 21%)
8 Citibank Kenya (6) 47534-a 3353-p 31192-d 18154-L (assets unchanged, profits up 89%)
9 NIC (10) 42,704-a 1,474-p 35,238-d 29,955-L (assets up 36%, profits up 41%)
10National Bank of Kenya (7) 42,696-a 1,797-p 34,278-d 8,950-L L (assets up 3%, profits up 11%)
11 Diamond Trust (11) 41,592-a 1,336-p 32,689-d 25,460-L (assets up 37%, profits up 44%)
12 Investment & Mortgages (12) 36,656-a 1,620-p 28,355-d 25,887-L (assets up 25%, profits up 25%)

Tier 2 (Assets of 6 – 24.9 billion)
13Prime (15) 19,945 million-assets (~$249 million or Kshs 19.95 billion) 460 million-profits (~$5.75 million) 15,662 million-deposits 9,426 million-Loans (assets up 44%, profits up 45%)
14Housing Finance (17) 14,330-a 196-p 10,089-d 10,419-L (assets up 38%, profits up 50%)
15 Imperial (16) 13,432-a 673-p 10,414-d 8,276-L (assets up 15%, profit up 19%)
16 Bank of Africa (23) 12304-a 93-p 8708-d 6856-L (assets up 61%, profit down 41%)
17 Bank of India (18) 12049-a 609-p 10211-d 4448-L (assets up 16%, profit up28 %)
18 Ecobank (19) 10499-a 67-p 8341-d 5126-l (assets up 11%, profit down 43%)
19 Family Bank (20) 10,410-a 531-p 7,404-d 5,890-L (assets up 21%, profit up 99%)
20 Baroda (14) 10361 633 15165 8938 (assets down 30% %, profit up 27%)
21 Chase (27) 10,300-a 247-p 7147-d 5139-L (assets up 80%, profit up 37%)
22 Fina (21) 9,865-a 82-p 8,113-d 6,190-L (assets up 22%, profit down 29 %)
23 K-Rep (24) 8,184-a -472(p) 4,502-d 5,935-L (assets up16 %, slipped to loss maker)
24 ABC (26) 6584-a 224-p 5365-d 3550-L (assets up 7%, profit up 21%)
25 Habib AG Zurich (25) 6,557-a 242-p 5,373-d 2,182-L (assets up 6%, profit up 19%)
26 Development Bank of Kenya (32) 6,520-a 171-p 2231-d 3439-L (assets up 39%, profit up 9%)

Tier 3 (assets below 6 billion shillings)
27 Giro (28) 5,938 million-assets (~$74 million, Kshs 5.93 billion) 126 million-profits (~$1.6million) 5,127 million deposits 3,411 million-Loans (assets up 6%, improved profit up 207%)
28 Guardian (29) 5,558-a 44-p 4,586-d 3,553-L (assets up 3%, improved profit up 84%)
29 Southern Credit (30) 5,171-a 6-p 4,106-d 2,655-L (assets down 6%, profit down 85%)
30 (--) Gulf African 5,000-a -382(p)3,249-d 1,932-L (new Shariah bank)
31 Consolidated (34) 4,657-a 85-p 3,279-d 2,751-L (asset up 13%, improved profits up 226%)
32 Habib Bank (35) 4,491-a 146-p 3024-d 988-L (assets up 17%, profit up 37%)
33 Victoria (33) 4,460-a 170-p 3,582-d 2,778-L (assets up %, profit up %)
34 Equatorial (31) 4410-a -8(p) 3668-d 2307-l (assets down 9%, slipped to loss maker)
35 Fidelity (38) 4,329-a 73-p 3,778-d 2,787-L (assets up 39%, profit up 62%)
36 Credit (36) 3,637-a 79-p 2774-d 1810-L (assets up 8%, profit down 40%)
37 Transnational (37) 3,414-a 121-p 1,891-d 1,441-L (assets up 6%, profit up 43%)
38 Middle East (39) 3,297-a 30-p 2,021-d 1,651-L (assets up 6%, profit down 68%)
39 (--) First Community 3,180-a -307(p) 2091-d 868-l (new Shariah bank)
40 Paramount Universal (40) 2,646-a 51-p 2,109-d 1,268-l (assets up 12%, profit up 19%)
41 Oriental (41) 2,289-a 68-p 1,314-d 958-L (assets up 35%)
42 Dubai (42) 1,639-a 7-p 1,032-d 957-L (assets up 6%, profit down 50%)
43 (43) City Finance 538 -a -3(p) 164 -d 193-L (assets down 28%, 90% financial improvement to report loss of 3m)

Kenya Bank Rankings 2008

Top 10 banks at December 2008

Assets
1. KCB (rank last year - 2) Kshs. 174.7 billion (~$2.19) billion
2 Barclays (1) 168.8b
3 Standard Chartered (3) 99.14b
4 Cooperative (5) 83.9b
5 CFC Stanbic (4) 83.2b
6 Equity (6) 77.2b
7 Commercial Bank of Africa (7) 50.1b
8 Citibank Kenya (8) 47.5b
9 NIC (10) 42.7b
10 National Bank of Kenya (9) 42.7b
Then Diamond Trust, Investment & Mortgages, Prime, Housing Finance, Imperial

Profits
1. Barclays Kshs 8.0 billion (~$100 million)
2. KCB 5.39b
3. Equity 4.76b
4 Standard Chartered 4.7b
5. Citibank Kenya 3.35b
Then Cooperative 3.33b, National Bank of Kenya 1.8b, Commercial Bank of Africa 1.7b, Investment & Mortgages 1.62b, NIC 1.47b

Deposits
1. Barclays Kshs. 126.4 billion (~$1.58 billion)
2. KCB 109.8b
3. Standard Chartered 76.9b
4. Cooperative 65.9b
5. CFC Stanbic 61.5b
Then Equity 50b, Commercial Bank of Africa 41.8b, NIC 35.2b, National Bank of Kenya 34.3b, Diamond Trust 32.7b

Loans
1. Barclays Kshs 108 billion (~$1.35 billion)
2. KCB 79.3b
3. Cooperative 53.3b
4. CFC Stanbic 44.2b
5. Standard Chartered 43.3b
Then Equity 40.9b, NIC 30b, Commercial Bank of Africa 26.3b, Investment & Mortgages 25.9b, Diamond Trust 25.4b
Source: from published audited accounts for 2008

Pepsi to Kenya?

. Nairumour that after an absence of many years, Pepsi will re-enter the Kenyan market in the near future to resume battle with Coca Cola, possibly through their South African partners. If so, it will cap a great year for investment to the country, and that despite 2008 being a relatively tough year for investors and companies, with the post-election violence, business disruption, high fuel and energy prices, depressed consumer spending, P & P madness (pirates and politicians) collapsing stockbrokers, there was a steady flow of new investments and new products that happened this year.

Re-cap of some notable ones

Banking
- Takeovers concluded - Ecobank take over of EABS, and Stanbic merger with CFC (now CFCStanbic)
- UBA licensed (2009)
- Gulf African and First Community (Shariah banking kicks off)

Beverages
- Summit Lager a new beer from Keroche Industries
- East African Breweries launched Alvaro (malted soft drink)
- Coca Cola launched Novidia (another malted soft drink) and also started selling Minute maid
- KETEPA launched Safari Iced Tea

Communications
- WPP buys into Scangroup
- 2008 saw the launch of two new mobile operators - Orange (France Telkom) and Yu (Essar/Econet) to battle Safaricom and a re-energized Zain
- Altech buys into KDN
- A long-running fight over one(EASSY)submarine cable, gave birth to three different ones being laid to Mombasa
- Wananchi launched Zuku (TV, Broadband, Phone)

Transport, Energy & Manufacturing
- Tiger brands buying into Haco
- An investment in the Kenya Oil Refinery at Mombasa was still under battle between Libyan and Indian Investors
- Jinchuan (China) to bail out Tiomin?
- Mirambo and PD Toll to salvage the Rift Valley Railways
- Delta Airlines (USA - but postponed to 2009)
- Air Arabia started flights to Kenya

Tourism
- Libyans took over the Grand (Laico) Regency
- The Tribe opens.

Exits
- Chevron (Caltex) sold out – bought by Total
- Unilever (de-listing from the NSE)
- Roy Puffet from rift Valley Railways

Bank Tales II

Maina T kind of started this thread with a review of the P/E correction of Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) shares.

NSE: ½ full or ½ empty? - to take it further, how are NSE shares today compared to last October? If you considered them fairly priced then, you are frowning today, but if you considered them over-valued, are you smiling today?
estimates
- Shares that have appreciated since October 2007: 4% - BAT Scangroup, 3% - Access 3%, 1% - Unga
- Shares that have depreciated since October 2007: (83%) – Mumias (74%) NIC (59%) Nation Media Group, CFC (55%) - Housing Finance, (53%) – Sasini (51%) – Kenya Airways (47%) - Sameer (45%) – Kengen, Centum (44%) - Eveready (43%) - Williamson (42%) – Express, Jubilee (41%) - KPLC, Kenol
- Banking sector: Best (4%) - NBK, worst (-74%) - NIC, sector average is -32%

Interesting that despite the world financial meltdown of late 2008, the Kenyan financial sector is faring no worse than other sectors (agricultural, industrial) which are all down approximately 1/3,and remains the sector most likely to produce super-profits again this year. Best performing sector is commercial services (excluding Safaricom only listed in June 2008) which is down 20% from a year ago

Cheap M&A The depressed NSE prices bring out good and bad banking opportunities.
- Good for anyone speculating on buying into a Kenyan bank. The Helios stake in Equity is priced as almost what it was when the deal was signed, while the CFC/Stanbic merger is worth ½ as much as it was a year ago.
- Bad for the Government who are hoping to raise funds from further sale of NBK and Development Bank of Kenya share. It also raises a question of how Co-op Bank IPO shares will be received i.e. if you enter a train going down hill and you want to go up hill, where will you end up?

Family Bank a recent stockskenya discussion could indicate that a listing of shares could happen soon.

EADB: sad tales on the East African Development Bank.

Kenya Bank Top 10s

half year to June 30 2008

Pre-Tax Profit: Barclays 4,295 million shillings [$64 million], KCB 3,394, Equity 2,997, Standard Chartered 2,321, Citibank 1,694, Cooperative 1,664, National Bank of Kenya 902, Commercial Bank of Africa 847, Investment & Mortgages 767, CFCStanbic 698 [$10.4 million]
12 month profit change : Ecobank 633% (to Kshs. 66m), Family 290%, Equity 189%,
Bank Africa 105%, Prime 98%, Giro 86%, Dubai 85%, KCB 77%, Guardian 76%, Citibank 75% then Consolidated, Cooperative, NBK, Credit, I&M

Deposits: Barclays 128,765 million shillings [$1.92 billion], KCB 93,372, Standard Chartered 73,512, Cooperative 59,072, CFCStanbic 57,040, Equity 42,116, Commercial Bank of Africa 35,135, National Bank of Kenya, 34,020, NIC 30, 165, Citibank Kenya 27,836 [$415 million]
12 month deposit growth: Equity 78%, Chase 58%, Prime 57%, Development Bank 41%, Diamond trust 38%, Fidelity 36%, CFCStanbic 33%, Oriental 32%, NIC 31%, Equatorial 29%, Transnational 23%, Barclays and Imperial 22% then KCB, Bank Africa, ABC.

Loans: Barclays 106,691 [$1.59 billion], KCB 60,165, Standard Chartered 45,351, Cooperative 43,411, CFCStanbic 38,746, Equity 34,273, NIC 25,727, Diamond Trust 22,320, Commercial Bank of Africa 21,803, Investment & Mortgages 20,703 [$309 million]
12 month loan growth: Equity 139%, Chase 88%, Prime 66%, Baroda 57%, Development Bank 54%, Commercial Bank of Africa 52%, Family Bank 51%, Co-op Bank 44%, Credit 44%, Fidelity 41%, then NIC, Bank of Africa, Diamond trust, I&M, CFCStanbic, Fina, Barclays.

Where to work: high employers - 6 month staff expenses; Barclays 3,287 million [$49 million], KCB 2,767, Cooperative 1,387, Standard Chartered 1,306, Equity 1,245, National Bank of Kenya 864, Commercial Bank of Africa 423, Citibank Kenya 416, CFCStanbic 389, Diamond Trust 330
directors; Standard Chartered 61 [$910,000], KCB 57, Cooperative 26, Commercial Bank of Africa 25, NIC 22, CFCStanbic 21, National Bank of Kenya 17, K-Rep 17, Southern Credit 14, Diamond Trust 12

Assets: 12 month asset growth: Equity 135%, Chase 76%, KCB 66%, Citibank 65%, Prime 59%, CFCStanbic 42%, Diamond trust 40%, Family bank 39%, I&M 33%, Bank of Africa 23%, Barclays 22%
Return on assets: Equity 4.28%, Citibank 2.85%, India 2.84%, Barclays 2.58%, Stanchart 2.45%, Coop Bank 2.31%
Non-performing assets: Cooperative Kshs. 8,841 million ($132m) , KCB 6,982, Barclays 5,986, Ecobank/EABS 3,492, CFCStanbic 3,435, National Bank of Kenya 2,559, Housing Finance 2,302, Standard Chartered 2,045, Equity 1,845, Commercial Bank of Africa 1,540
Sgare capital : Barclays Kshs. 19,233 ($287 million), Equity 19,005, Standard Chartered 9,615, KCB 9,591, Citibank Kenya 7,791, CFCStanbic 6,865, Cooperative 6,710, National Bank of Kenya 4,912, NIC 4,649, Diamond Trust 4,259

Kenya Bank Rankings

Kenya’s banks assets and profits at June 30 2008, for the first half of the year
1. Barclays; assets Kshs. 166,702 million [$2.48 billion], (pre-tax profit of Kshs. 4,295 million [$64 million])
2. KCB; 160,230 (profit: 3,394)
3. Standard Chartered; 94,570 (2,321)
4. CFCStanbic; 78,948 (698)
5. Cooperative; 72,018 (1,664)
6. Equity; 70,102 (2,997)
7. Citibank Kenya; 59,495 (1,694)
8. Commercial Bank of Africa 44,035 (847)
9. National Bank of Kenya 43,360 (902)
10. NIC; 37,590 (650)
11. Diamond Trust; 34,262 (618)
12. Investment & Mortgages (I&M); 32,775 (767)
13. Prime; 17,088 (283)
14. Baroda; 16,070 (302)
15. Housing Finance; 12,942 (51)
16. Imperial 12,851 (350)
17. Bank of India; 10,960 (311)
18. Ecobank (formerly EABS); 9,474 (66)
19. Family Bank (formerly Family Finance); 9,278 (273)
20. Bank of Africa; 9,036 (76)
21. Fina; 8,729 (65)
22. Chase 8,497 (109)
23. K-Rep; 7,197 (4)
24. ABC 6,126 (82)
25. Habib Zurich; 5,931 (111)
26. Guardian; 5,530 (60)
27. Giro; 5,379 (67)
28. Southern Credit; 5,338 (11)
29. Development Bank (DBK); 5,165 (90)
30. Equatorial; 4,820 (46)
31. Consolidated; 4,228 (8)
32. Victoria; 3,988 (78)
33. Credit; 3,637 (53)
34. Habib Bank; 3,611 (70)
35. Fidelity; 3,590 (29)
36. Transnational; 3,224 (53)
37. Middle East; 3,106 (35)
38. Paramount Universal; 2,584 (22)
39. Gulf African; 2,529 (-138) * #
40. Oriental; 1,809 (26)
41. Dubai; 1,518 (26)
42. City Finance; assets of 522 million [$7.8 million], (profit of 11 [$164,000])
43. First Community -- (--) * #
* New bank
# Shariah bank

Same time last year had Barclays, KCB, StanChart as the top three, Co-op ahead of CFC, NBK wer 6th, CBA ahead of Citi, and Equity were 9th

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 asset 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
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 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, as it is not a sale, 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 new entity will have around $60 – 70 million. 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 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 expand branches in 2008

Commenting on the largest bank in the world ICBC buying 20% of Stanbic (it’s 70% owned by 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 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 power house, MD Soundararajan and directors Njonjo and Kierieni 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 Kierieni had 30%.

Goodies: souvenir pen, umbrella, big lunch box with little food from intercontinental – (fanta, cake, apple, and 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 pr 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 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

CFC Stanbic Bank

CFC Stanbic Bank is the official name of the proposed new entity created by the merger of the CFC and Stanbic banks' pending approval from among others shareholders, Capital Markets Authority, Central Bank of Kenya (Minister of Finance).

The merger makes sense in that the 9th and 10th largest banks (both around $350m in assets) can merge to become the 4th largest bank in the country (after Barclays, KCB, Stanchart)

Sticking points are that the deal is structured to include the creation of new shares (113 million) that will be transferred to Stanbic in addition to buying a majority of Gambit shares (currently the largest shareholder in CFC). Gambit will still remain as the 4th largest shareholder in the bank after the merger.

To sweeten the deal, CFC Stanbic Bank will remain listed on the NSE and Stanbic Kenya will be a wholly owned subsidiary. Also the statement points out their branch networks complement each other, so perhaps only Mombasa (where they, and most banks, have branches on Nkurmah street) and branches in Uchumi stores may need a work out.

When the story first broke last year (despite having a caution), it sent CFC's share price up 10X (to about 900 shillings) and this notice also advises shareholders to exercise caution in dealing their CFC shares until further announcements are made. The announcement was released on Friday (but not yet up on NSE site), and published in the newspapers on Saturday to perhaps dampen the speculative mood/euphoria and allow careful analysis to set in before Monday.

(I Don’t have CFC shares but they have been very good stockbrokers to me. Unrelated to this is, I have Stanbic Uganda shares)