Idea Exchange: Bank, Literature, Journalism, Opportunities, and Win a Free Phone

The Africa AgriBusiness Challenge from Enactus Kenya and Syngenta seeks out youth to generate creative business ideas to improve the agricultural productivity of certain crop value chains. Deadline is June 10.

The 2014 Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship will have five awards to celebrate entrepreneurs at different stages of the entrepreneurial life cycle; lifetime achievement, transformational business, outstanding mature business, outstanding growing business and outstanding social entrepreneur.

The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation. Details here .. via @calestous.

@AfriCOG Investigative Journalism Fellowship Programme 2014. Deadline is 30 May. 

Anthemis Fellowship seeks out entrepreneurs, executives and thought leaders who are passionate about building an improved financial services industry fit for the digital age. The Anthemis Fellowship program includes 4 months at the Anthemis London office, 4 months with one of their portfolio companies and 4 months with a major financial services firm. It also comes with a monthly stipend of EUR2000 and an invitation to attend the Anthemis #HackingFinance Retreat from July 10-13, 2014 in Meribel, France. Deadline is June 1. 

@APO_Source has had a scholarship for an African journalist to to attend the 2014 annual meetings of the African Development Bank.

Bloomberg Africa ‏@BBGAfrica - seeks Swaziland, Eritrea, Djibouti, G.Bissau, Cape Verde, Eq. Guinea, Sao Tome stringers - Please e-mail asguazzin@bloomberg.net

Citi Africa Management Associate Programme Citi in Africa is  looking for ambitious graduates with strong academic backgrounds, maximum of two years’ work experience, leadership, teamwork, and excellent communication skills.

The 2014 CNN/MultiChoice African Journalist Awards will recognise excellence in culture, economics & business (NEW), energy & infrastructure (NEW), environment, health & medical, news impact (NEW), photography, press freedom, sports, language general news, Francophone news and also Portuguese news. Details here and the deadline is 30 May.

EABL Foundation scholarships for needy students who have gained admission to Kenya public universities. Deadline is June 6. 

Etisalat Prize 2014 for African literature is now open with a top prize of £15,000 and a fellowship at the University of East Anglia, while winner and shortlisted writers also receive a sponsored two city tour promoting their books. Details here and the deadline is 8 August.

The Golden Baobab Prizes for Literature include awards for a picture Book (targeting readers aged 6 – 8 years), early chapter (targeting readers aged 9 -11) and rising writers (for a young African author under the age of 18 who demonstrates the talent and drive to become the next great African author for children). Details here and the deadline is June 29.

Jalada / @KwaniTrust seek 3 best Afrofuture submissions for a second anthology. Deadline is D/L 15

Japan Government scholarships  in research, teacher training, technology, and specialized training .. via @njathika

Want to be a Jameson brand ambassador? Here's how to apply (via @uqweli ) oops - deadline also passed.

KCB: The region's largest bank has ongoing internships, management trainee and management exchange programs. Sourced from @RookieKE blog.

 

Kenya Revenue Authority -  KRA graduate trainee program 2014

The Kenya StartUp Cup is open to all Kenyan youth entrepreneurs who can apply to win Kshs 1 million (~$11,500). Details from the @prepaid_africa blog and the deadline is May 20.

KenyaTop100 seeks successful companies with turnover of Kshs 70 million to Kshs 1 billion (~$12,000)  with 3 years audited accounts to compete and be among @kenyastop100 

Kijabe Forest Trust @KijabeForest  is seeking a new logo design.

Kuona Trust has internship opportunities for students at their offices in Hurlingham, Nairobi. 

The Kwani Trust 2014 fiction workshop seeks to develop new contemporary fiction writers between the ages of 18 and 24 and from outside of Nairobi. To apply, check the website, and send email to submissions_at_kwani.org by May 26.

Orange  has launched the 4th edition of the Orange African Social Venture Prize which will award prizes to four projects; three with grants of 10,000 EUR, 15,000 EUR and 25,000 EUR, and a new special prize of 10,000 EUR. It's open to all entrepreneurs or legal entities that has been in existence for fewer than three years at the time of the competition and the deadline is 19 September.

Power Africa Off Grid Energy Challenge from @USADF and @GeneralElectric Africa offers up to $100,000 to 100% African owned and African managed firms that seek to power up under-served parts of rural Kenya. Deadline is June 20.  

School of Data: Become a School of Data Fellow as they are currently broadening their efforts to spread data skills around the world, and are seeking people who are data savvy, understand the role of NGO's, are interested or experienced in working with journalism and/or civil society, or enjoy community-building.  Deadline is 1 June.

Standard Chartered Bank Fast Track Program: The bank is looking for young graduates to join their management trainee program in several African countries, including Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and several international locations. Sourced from @RookieKE blog

 
The Stanford University Africa MBA Fellowship Program pays for tuition and associated fees (approximately US $145,000) for citizens of African countries with financial need who wish to obtain an MBA at Stanford GSB. Stanford will award up to eight Stanford Africa MBA Fellowships annually. Details here and the deadline is 13 June.

Strathmore University @StrathU scholarships from @imbankke for 10 needy students pursuing various Finance related degree programmes.

Swedish Institute Management Programme‏ The Swedish Institute is launching a new leadership programme for progressive leaders from Kenya,Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Zambia - offering a combination of theory and practice in the area of responsible leadership and sustainable business.  Details here and the deadline is June 6.

Total Kenya Graduate Management Trainee Program. The company was is looking for young dynamic graduates.  Also sourced from @RookieKE blog but the deadline was 7 May  

The Wall Street Journal @WSJ looking for entrepreneurial reporter to cover the most entrepreneurial of Africa beats--business, from Nairobi. Apply to @pwonacott

Submit your wikimedia proposals to be included at Wiki Indaba 2014 in Johannesburg. Details here and the deadline is 15 May.

The World Bank Young Professionals Program 2014 seeks highly qualified and motivated individuals skilled in areas relevant to the World Bank’s operations such as, economics, finance, education, public health, social sciences, engineering, urban planning, and natural resource management. Details here and the deadline is 30 June.

 
Win a Nokia Lumia 1320: There are very few comments on the blog here despite the number of daily readers, and many of the comments are from spammers promoting products from far off countries. To stimulate comments, I’m giving away a brand new Nokia Lumia 1320 phone (worth about $400/Kshs 35,000) to the person who engages the most on the site. The phone was an excellent, but unexpected, prize awarded to the winner of the best business blog at the recent 2014 Kenya Blog Awards ceremony. During the month of May, readers to the blog and it's archives, can make as many comments as they want, and I'll respond on some. 

Rules 
1. There are no rules about winning.
2. It's about serious comments, not volume - and blog comments only, not tweets/tags

3. This is personal, and the promo has nothing to do with Nokia  or Nokia East Africa.

4. @Coldtusker is excluded :(
5. An announcement will be made on June 14, and there may not be a winner  if no one is deemed to be worthy.

Private Equity Moment

Access Kenya directors have approved the sale of the company to Dimension Data and will now recommend that all other shareholders vote in favour of the deal at an shareholders EGM on August 20, 2013. The company will forward this circular to all the company's 28,000 shareholders and need to get a 75% vote approving the deal which will pay Kshs. 14 (~$0.16) per share and also de-list the company from the Nairobi Securities Exchange just six years after an IPO and listing.    

Elsewhere, the government has agreed to waive the requirement that local Kenyans have to own 20% of the company after the Dimension Data takeover.

 

Other Deals

Big Milk: According to the Standard, dairy giant Brookside has acquired a majority stake in rival Molo Milk - continuing a pattern of the company buying out it's rival's and consolidation in the milk processing sector.

Unfriendly Oil: Kenol Kobil is fighting off the takeover of a prime petrol station at Yaya area, Nairobi by a rival company - Hashi Energy. KenolKobil (management) claim an armed gang of 20 people raided the petrol station, kicked out its staff, and rebranded the outlet with the Hashi Energy logo.

Recent M&A deals approved by the Kenya Competition Authority include:

Automobiles

- The acquisition of DT Dobie Kenya (distributors of Jeep, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Renault, Chrysler) by Toyota Tsusho Corporation  - with a provision that implies that there will be some separation of brands above and below 1,800 cc.

- The acquisition of Cica Motors Kenya (distributors  of Hyundai Trucks and Greatwall brands) by Toyota Tsusho Corporation 

Banking, Insurance & Finance

The acquisition of Iroko Securities by Ecobank Development Corporation.

Health & Beauty

The acquisition of Laborex Kenya and Epdis Kenya by Toyota Tsusho Corporation.

Technology

- The acquisition of Comztek Holdings by Datatec in a South African deal valued at 88 million rand (Kshs 767 million)

- The purchase of all assets of Interest Africa by BSS Africa (Belgium Satellite Services)

KQ-KLM: The Competition Authority also exempted the joint venture agreement between Kenya Airways and KLM Royal Dutch Airline from the provisions of section 21 of the Competition Act which prohibits the abuse of a dominant position in the Kenyan market. 

I&M Bank lists at the NSE

I&M (Bank) Holdings formally listed at the Nairobi Stock Exchange in the banking segment on June 25, 2013. I&M Holdings is the 6th largest bank group in the country with  assets of Kshs. 144.7 billion ($1.74 billion), profits of Kshs 5.73 billion ($69 million) as at December 2012.

 

This was the culmination of a three year transaction process that had several steps including a cash-less acquisition of 100% of I&M Bank by City Trust Limited (then-listed on the alternative shares segment of the NSE, and City Trust  owned 7.3% of I&M), a 1:5  share split to create make 27 million shares (up from 6 million), the issue 364 million additional shares to I&M shareholders in a swap - all resulting in 392 million shares to star  trading at Kshs 50 shillings ($0.60) each on the NSE. 

Within that period, I&M Bank also had a private placement to raise about 2.4 billion ($30 million), launched an e-commerce platform, launched a multi-currency debit card, bought stakes in banks in Mauritius, Rwanda (55% of Banque Commerciale du Rwanda) and Tanzania and also got investment funding from Proparco & DEG banks.

At the launch Dyer & Blair Investment Bank Chairman Jimnah Mbrau advised other family-owned firms to emulate I&M in such moves in order for them to live on long after their founders.

I&M shares started trading at Kshs 93 per share this morning. 

Private Equity Moment

Following the January  post on M&A deals, here are some recent events. 

The Private Equity Confidence Survey was published by Africa Assets and Deloitte and it showed that, in 2012, private equity firms invested $1.13 billion towards 58 deals in Sub-Saharan Africa. This was a a slight decline from 2011, and that Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa accounted for 45% of the deals in 2012.  Also in the survey; 

- Despite the enormous hype surrounding Kenya’s growing IT sector, dubbed the “Silicon Savannah”, no IT or venture capital deals were reported in eastern Africa in 2012. This clearly reflects that both the IT sector and VC industry in eastern Africa, and indeed Africa more broadly, remain quite young and underdeveloped. Interestingly, IT-Tech deals were done in 2012 in South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria and the DRC.

-  One conference speaker on VC deal structuring said the problem is ‘Kenyan entrepreneurs believe they each have a fantastic proprietary idea, and they want lots of money up front to develop it, regardless of the lack of business model planning done by many of them. 

- The dominant exit route across Africa is a sale to a strategic investor..and most investors expect the average investment lifecycle to be between two to five years.

Recent M&A deals approved by the Kenya Competition Authority include:

Agri-Business & Food

- The acquisition by Almasi Beverages of Kisii Bottlers, Rift Valley Bottlers and Mount Kenya Bottlers 

- The acquisition of Lord Erroll Limited by Koita International Kenya.

- The acquisition of Ocean Agriculture (EA) by JH Verwiel.

- The acquisition of Siret Tea Company by Siret Outgrowers Empowerment & Produce Company. 

- The acquisition by the Rai Family of shares of Sukari Industries.

Banking, Insurance & Finance

- The acquisition of I&M Bank by City Trust Limited.

- The acquisition of PSJ & Associates by PKF Kenya.

- The acquisition of 66.66% of Mercantile Insurance by Colina Holdings

Building, Energy & Real Estate

- The acquisition of shares in Cemtech (who were to put up a cement factory in Pokot) by Rock Field Corporation. 

- The acquisition of Economic Housing by Mali Rasili Group. 

- The acquisition of all assets of Mutonga Mutuandaju Small Hydro Power  (a hydro-power project in South Imenti, Meru) by Intrepid Energy. 

Health & Beauty

- The purchase of shares in Alexander Forbes Healthcare by Zanele Investments Holding Company

- The acquisition of the health and beauty business (cosmetic & hair brands) of Interconsumer Products by L’Oreal East Africa 

- The acquisition of certain assets & liabilities of RTT Health Services by Imperial Group 

- The acquisition of Lyntons Pharmacy by Luwada Management

- The acquisition of Star Biotech Lab & Diagnostics (a pathology lab) by Metropolis Health Healthcare

- The acquisition of an indirect interest in the assets of Strategic Industries Limited.

Media & Communications

- The acquisition of Alldean Networks Limited by ISAT Africa Limited FZC and Richard W. Bell.

- The acquisition by EMC Acquisition, LLC and Emerging Markets Communication, LLC of EMC, LLC.

- The acquisition of shares in Dodhia Packaging Limited by Corpak Africa and Corpark Kenya

- The acquisition of  the investment in Rodwell Press held in Interlabels Africa by Interlabels Industries Private Limited.

Oil & Mining 

- The acquisition of Aviva Mining Kenya by Africa Barrick Gold (from Aviva Corporation)

- The acquisition of 87.25% of Pacific Seaboard Investments Limited by Tardigrade International Inc.

Tourism

- The acquisition of East Africa Safari Ventures by Natural Habitat Safaris.

- The acquisition of 80% of Nairobi Tented Camp  by Porini Limited.

- The acquisition of Leleshwa Safari Company  by Natural Habitat Safaris 

- The acquisition of Vittoria Limited and subscription of shares in Olarro Conservancy Limited by Arabian Ranchers Property Investments 

Transport, Engineering & Logistics 

- The acquisition Swift Global Logistics by DSV Air & Sea Holdings

- The purchase of 55% of Tradewinds Aviation by NAS Africa Aviation 

- The acquisition of 60% of Treadsetters Tyres by Bharat Doshi, Aashit Shah and Carlet Overseas Corporation.

- The acquisition of 40% of Tredcore Kenya by Magister Limited

- The acquisition of Vtechnologies (Kenya) Limited by UHT SAS.

EDIT
More deals approves in May 2013
- The acquisition of the remaining shares in Cable Television Network by Wananchi Group
- The acquisition of 99% of Microensure Advisory Services by Microensure Holdings
- The acquisition of Brightermonday.com by Cheki Africa Media.

- The acquisition of 1,680 steers and 792 cows from Delamere Estates by Ngombe Ltd 

- The acquisition of 80% of Altech Kenya Data Networks and 100% of Altech Swift Global Limited by Liquid Telecommunications Holdings

-  The acquisition of the business of Daru Shifa Centre by Viva Afya

- The acquisition of Endebess Estates (Kilifi Holdings)  by Ballobhai Chhotabhai Patel.

Other recent deals in the News

- Jacana Partners and InReturn Capital announced a merger, and plans for a $75 million SME Fund

- 88mph and the eVentures Africa (eVA) Fund announced a partnership to improve investment opportunities

- Does Tuskys Supermarket want to buy Ukwala  a rival supermarket chain?

- 90% of I&M Bank shareholders have accepted the takeover by City Trust Ltd and the deal makers have been granted a 2 week extension to reach out to the remaining shareholders. Next steps include a share split.  mandatory acquision of the balance of shares, and a possible NSE-listing on June 12. 

-  Airtel signed an agreement to fully acquire Warid Uganda – the combined entity will remain the number two carrier in Uganda with 7.4 million customers  and a market share of 39%. 

- Fastjet and the CEO of Fly540 agreed to cease their court battles and work towards an acquisition of Fly540  - freeing FastJet to commence Kenyan operations. 

- A summary of China investments around the world in the year 2011.

-  In the US, M&A of VC-backed startups are at a four year low. 

-  Venture capital merger and acquisition activity in the US dropped in the first quarter of this year, ending with the fewest exits since the first quarter of 2009, according to the just-released venture report from Dow Jones VentureSource.

- Some 86 M&A transactions were done for a total amount of $4.3 billion, down 44% in deal activity and a decline of 24% in capital. In the final three months of last year, 113 deals brought in $7.6 billion to the VC-backed startups.

- Companies raised $6.36 billion in the first quarter of 2013, the lowest amount raised since the third quarter of 2010, when $6.1 billion was raised. In the first three months of the year, 752 companies were funded, which is similar to the 732 companies that got funded just over two years ago. Healthcare deals accounted for almost a third of the invested capital.

EDIT Jambo Biscuits food processing business is being transferred Kilimanjaro Foods.

Mobile & Card Payments across East Africa

A new unsecured card solution was launched by afb last week that will allows customers to instantly spread the cost of their purchase at participating shops into affordable 6 month repayments. afb have signed up 52 merchants like Baus Optical, Cambridge Opticians, Fabguru Shoes, Kitengela Glass, and local supermarkets (Tumaini, Home Depot, Homemade) and are also signing up other merchant shops where consumers will be able to apply for cards and get them approved & issued in the stores ahead of making a purchase.  afb settles the transaction amounts directly into the retailers bank account, and the the customer makes repayments via M-Pesa. afb next hope to venture into loans and insurance in Kenya.

How large is the card market? A Central Bank of Kenya reports showed that there were 9 million debit cards and 140, 000 credit cards in use in Kenya in 2012.

In terms of mobile money, CBK data showed that 21 million Kenyans moved Kshs. 141 billion ($1.65 billion) via 53 million mobile money transactions during February 2013.

CBK has also come up with new mobile money rules that target money laundering. They require that operators link different accounts opened by a user with a single ID card, flag accounts that move more than Kshs. 100,000 (~$1,175) per day or 300,000 (~$3,530) per week, have audit trails, institute systems to handle customer complaints and retain transaction data for 7 years. 

KCB and Western Union who have an account-based money transfer service (ABMT) in Kenya will extend it across East Africa this week, enabling KCB customers to receive money from Western Union directly into their accounts.

Kenya Airways has a 1.5% fee on all credit card transactions (owing to high processing bank charges).

Following a spate of fraud incidents last December, the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) has launched an ATM safety campaign dubbed “Be Alert” or “Kaa Chonjo” which include tips such as cover the PIN with hand, and sharing PIN number with anyone (including spouses) 

KBA also  announced the shift by Kenyan banks to the new Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) technology to ensure better security of cards.

90% of KenyaPower pre-paid electricity tokens are now purchased using #Mpesa - according to an Safaricom Business ad.

Diners can now pay restaurant bills via M-Pesa under a new partnership between Kopo Kopo, Eat Out and Safaricom. Restaurants accept payments at 1.5% per transaction.

 

MasterCard and Equity Bank introduced PayPass enabled debit cards in 5 African markets which will enable merchants to receive payments via low cost add-ons linked to applications on their mobile devices (such as a smart phone or tablet) 

Mastercard and I&M Bank launched a multi-currency (Dollars, Pounds, Euros) prepaid card which enables users to load up  to $10,000 and make foreign currency purchases without incurring exchange rate or other charges.

MasterCard also released a study called the MasterCard African Cities Growth Index that showed that Accra, Lusaka and Luanda offer the highest growth potential in Sub-Saharan Africa. Other ranked cities included Dar es Salaam (4), Addis Ababa (5), Nairobi (6), Kampala (7), Johannesburg  (8), Cape Town (11), Mombasa (12), Lagos (13),  and Khartoum (19).

Credit reference bureaus like CRB Africa and Metropol are expanding across East Africa.

The inaugural Mobile Money Africa Awards will be held in Johannesburg next month, to award the best mobile money app, mobile banking service, and mobile money platform for Africa, among others.  

Nation Hela launched last year has 8,000 active cards in use.

With PesaPal, Kenyans in the Diaspora can send school fees payment directly to 12,000 schools in Kenya using their credit cards (no need for money transfer service). 

Shell Kenya have a visa card promotion to encourage motorists to swipe their cards and pay for fuel The platform is powered by Equity Bank POS at all Shell stations, and station owners are not charged commissions for card sales (Shell pays all commissions).

Tangaza321 is said to be the second largest mover of mobile money behind M-Pesa. The Tangaza system uses biometric data (fingerprints) as many customers don't possess national ID cards and allows them to send money across all networks, even to people who don’t have mobile phones.

A team with the University of Nairobi’s University Students Community Organization (Uniscoo)  has developed a prepaid card for university students. Uniscoo which has 25,000 students seeks to encourage good money management among students through the use of the prepaid card powered by MasterCard.

Kenyan M&A

The Kenya Competition Authority recently approved for several corporate deals to be completed. Some of them were mere rubber stamping formalities, as the deals originated far away or had little in the way of local competition that would compel the authority to intervene. 

They covered a variety of sectors including: 

Agro-Processing

- (The acquisition of) The flower growing business of Finlay's Horticulture Kenya by Lamorna

- (The acquisition of the) Residual business  of Agrifresh Kenya by Finlays

- (The acquisition of)  Sarkish Flora Ltd by Africa Blooms Limited.

Oil & Mining

- Acquisition of 100% of Cove Energy Plc by Shell Exploration & Production (Thailand) 

- Acquisition of  100% of Dominion Petroleum by Ophir Energy Plc.

- Pacific Wildcat Resources Corporation acquiring 100% of Stirling Capital  (UK) and Cortec Pty (UK)

- Elsewhere, there are new (and controversial) that have been proposed that mandate for local shareholders to own 25% of petroleum companies and 35% of mining companies (read more) 

Money & Finance

- Acquisition of 100% of Aureos Capital by Abraaj Capital

-  Acquisition of Grant Thornton Kenya by PKF & Associates (which continues to be in an expansion mode even after taking over DCDM)

- (The acquisition of) Additional shares in Pan Africa Insurance Holdings by Hubris Holdings

- Acquisition of Credit Reference Bureau (Holdings) Limited by Transunion Netherlands (part of the credit giant Transunion

- 62.52% of Micro Africa  by Letshego Holdings (of Botswana)

Tourism

- (100%) of  Ol-Seki Ltd by Hemingways Holdings

Manufacturing & Engineering

-  The acquisition of selected assets of Raffia Bags Kenya by Polycem Bags

 -  The acquisition of 62% of Civicon Ltd by Transcentury Engineering & Contracting

  

Service

- The acquisition 75% of Nairobi Java House by Emerging Capital Partners Africa Fund III. The deal won the AI  deal of the year  award and last weekend was featured on the Citizen TV piece called Who owns Kenya  (video)

Others

- Shoden Data Systems (Proprietary) by Hitachi Data Systems Europe (a sub-Saharan territory deal)

-  Kingfisher Properties  by Mahesh Sanghrajka & Aasheet Sanghrajka.

- Centro Suburb Ltd by  Westlands Triangle Properties

On-Going

Following on three earlier deals: 

- Barclays & Absa are back in the news, six years later

- The shareholders of three bottling companies in Kenya have agreed with a Coca Cola  plan to merge them under a single company Almasi, with one board of directors and CEO and cut other costly production redundancies

- No word on Kenol. 

In the News

Other ongoing deals, yet to be concluded include: 

Money & Finance

- Deloitte East Africa merging with Haile Solomon & Tekeste (Ethiopia)

-  The I&M Bank and City Trust deal

-  I&M Bank Limited buying 55% of Banque Commerciale du Rwanda

- EcoBank Kenya pursuing an undisclosed local investment bank

- UAP Holdings pursuing an undisclosed Tanzanian insurance company

Other

- Australian firm Aviva Corporation (Australia) selling stakes of Kenyan subsidiary to Africa Barrick Gold (ABG)

-  Copy Cat buying 51% stake of Seal Africa

- Low cost airline, FastJet which took over the routes of Fly540 in Kenya and Tanzania, also plans to take over the collapsed operations of South Africa's 1-time airline for $0.12

- The Woolworth - Deacons deal    

Kenya Bank Rankings 2010: Final Word

From the earlier estimates now there’s a complete list of the published accounts for all commercial banks as at December 31 2010.

1 (1) KCB: Assets of Kshs 223024 ($2.69 billion) [pre-tax profit of Kshs. 11.53 billion ($139 million)]
2 (2) Barclays
3 (4) Cooperative
4 (3) Standard Chartered
5 (6) Equity
6 (5) CFC Stanbic
7 (7) Commercial Bank of Africa needs to raise capital?
8 (14) Investment & Mortgages overhauls Citibank, National Bank, Diamond Trust and NIC
9 (9) Citibank
10 (8) National Bank of Kenya
11 (10) Diamond Trust
12 (11) NIC
13 (13) Prime Bank
14 (14) Baroda
15 (15) Housing Finance
16 (19) Ecobank
17 (16) Bank of Africa
18 (21) Chase
19 (20) Family Bank
20 (17) India
21 (18) Imperial
22 (--) Kenya Women Finance Trust (DTM) new deposit taking micro-financed [assets of Kshs 18.9 billion and pre tax profit of Kshs 464 million ]
23 (22) Fina Bank
24(24) Development Bank of Kenya
25 (29) Consolidated
26 (34) Equatorial (acquired Southern Credit)
27 (23) ABC
28 (28) Giro
29 (25) Gulf African (Kenya's first Sharia bank breaks even in third year)
30 (31) Fidelity
31 (26) Habib AG Zurich
32 (30) Guardian
33 (27) K-Rep
34 (34) First Community Bank
35 (32) Victoria
36 (33) Habib Bank
37 (38) Transnational
38 (41) Oriental (boosted by other income)
39 (37) Credit
40 (40) Paramount
41 (36) Faulu Kenya: (new deposit taking micro-finance institution) [assets of 4.3.9 billion and pre tax loss of Kshs 164 million ]
42 (39) Middle East
43(43) UBA: slow start in Kenya, but finally started lending
44 (42) Dubai Bank
45 (44) Jamii Bora: formerly city finance bank, and was acquired by microfinance company Jamii)

Investor Choice: December 2010

December is traditionally a slow investment month in Kenya, but not so this year with so many investment offers from a variety of sectors

Recap

- Bralirwa IPO is ongoing for Rwanda’s largest beer company. Nairobi stockbrokers who are facilitating the cross-border deal include Dyer & Blair, Faida, African Alliance and CFC Stanbic

- Deacons set out to raise Kshs 800 million ($10 million) in November. They extended the deadline to early December, and came up slightly short at Kshs 700 million which is still commendable for a low marketed company in a competitive industry with no immediate listing plans

- I&M Bank had a private placement to raise about 2.4 billion ($30 million) and is said to be past the mark

- The Kenya Power & Lighting Company - KPLC Rights issue set out to raise almost Kshs 10 billion ($125 million) in a combination share split, tights issue, government shareholding restructuring. It runs till December 22, but for new shareholders deadline is December 15 and is 50% underwritten with Centum and Equity bank.

- A second tranche of the Kshs 12 billion Safaricom bond program which aimed to raise Kshs 4.5 billion ($56 million) closed yesterday, and announcement is to be done today - (PDF)

- Airline Investors – away from retail investors we have the rarefied world of institutional investors and buccaneers in the aviation space in Africa

- (Via Flight Africa Blog) Jetlink expanding flights to (Asmara) Eritrea while Fly540 is to soon launch operations in Angola and Ghana
- Kenya Airways resumes flights to (Rome) Italy on December 16 which is its fourth European destination
- Recently, Rwanda Air launched flights from Rwanda to Dubai via Mombasa.
- Yemenia resuming flights to Kenya.
- East African, (who may or may not be in business) are promoting flights from Nairobi to (Hargeisa) Somaliland for $620
- And helicopter leasing is getting popular in Kenya, even at rates of $2,000 per hour.

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.

IM The Bank!

Kenya’s I&M Bank has made two bold moves in recent days:

1. The second was the purchase of a stake in a Tanznian Bank, after their venture last year into Mauritius. It will probably be similar to the bank buy by NIC in Tanzania that they (NIC) revealed to their shareholders. But expert analyst @coldtusker points out that it has taken six years for I&M’s foray to bear fruit in Tanzania.

Also, Ratio Magazine just published a timely Tanzania Country Brief which has this comment on the banking sector;

…Tanzania is already home to 25 banks – none of which have managed to bring down the country’s high interest rates (many banks charge up to 25%). There is much opportunity to court new customers, as only 10% of Tanzania’s 40 million people have access to formal banking services. But scarce human resources that have plagued other foreign entrants will also be a challenge…


From ABN Digital: On 27/01/10 CNBC Africa's Alishia Seckam spoke to Suprio Sengupta from I & M Bank

2. The first was the was the partnership with partnership with VISA that may place I&M at the forefront of the e-commerce banking in Kenya, which though it still has a small debit and credit card base, these consumers now have the access and a platform to make online payments as well as for local merchants to sell their goods, and receive payments, online.

Bank Review '07: Part III

Middle of the pack

20. (20) Fina Bank: Estimated assets of 7.6 billion ($108 million) and profits of 90 million shillings ($1.3 million), with growth of about 20% from a year ago. Opened upcountry branches in Kenya (Nakuru, Mombasa, and Eldoret) and will start branches in Uganda next year, bridging the Fina to their existing Rwanda operations.

19. (22) Family Bank: Estimated assets of 9 billion and profits of 220 million in 2007. Known as Equity Blue, it has enjoyed similarly rapid growth (though slightly less this year) since converting from a building society to a bank. It has followed Equity's footsteps, applying for the same exemptions granted to Equity - such early as admission to the clearing house and permission to issue chequebooks. It has also opened branches at a fast rate and its paperless banking model and women-entrepreneur loan models are a hit with rural Kenyans. But, in the year in which they converted to a Bank, they also lost their long serving CEO over board dispute and got sued by a Central Bank official who their Chairman had accused of being corrupt.

18. (18) EABS: Estimated assets of 9 billion and profits of 15 million. Teething pains continue at the former building society which converted to a bank three years ago, and had growth of about 5% in 2007.

17. (17) Housing Finance : Estimated assets of 10.5 billion and profit of 120 million, with loans 15% up from a year ago but assets only 2%. The bank tried to merge with Development Bank of Kenya, and later raise cash in a rights issue, but both plans were scuttled by regulators; later the board signed to sell a 25% stake to Equity Bank. HFCK and S&L (owned by KCB) are still major players in the mortgages sector which is becoming a crowded field with newer entrants Stanbic and Standard Chartered. HF also lost a class action lawsuit filed by customers over illegal bank charges.

16. (19) Bank of India: Estimated assets of 11 billion and profit of 500 million for quiet bank that grew at about 25%. Does a lot of India related business and Kenya government securities.

15. (16) Imperial Bank: Estimated assets of 11.5 billion and profits of 600 million. In 2007, the bank grew about 40% as it launched shariah banking, asset finance, children’s accounts and opened new branches at the coast.

14. (14) Bank of Baroda: Estimated assets of 14.9 billion and profit of 600 million for quiet bank that grew at about 25% and does a lot of Kenya government securities investing. It has been in Kenya for 52 years

13. (15) Prime Bank : Estimated assets of 15 billion and profits of 350 million. The fast growing bank will consolidate with affiliate Prime capital company by year end leading to a much larger bank in 2008.

12. (11) Investment & Mortgages: Estimated assets of 30 billion and profits of 1.3 billion. Fast growing bank also diversified into shariah banking, custodial services and also acquired two new euro bank shareholders.

11. (12) Diamond Trust : Estimated assets of 31 billion and profits of 950 million. In 2007 the bank grew about 45% as it opened several new branches, had a second rights issue in less than a year and also acquired a majority stake in Diamond Trust Tanzania.

10. (8) NIC: Estimated assets of 34 billion and profit of 1.1 billion. The bank grew at about 30% in 2007. It had a rights issue, rewarded shareholders with a bonus, went into custodial and investment banking (acquiring a stockbrokerage firm). But the market leader in asset finance also faced increased competition from other banks in this field and was dropped from NSE share index in favour of ICDCI.

9. (5) Citibank Kenya: Estimated assets of 38 billion and profit of 1.9 billion shillings. Otherwise a flat year for the bank whose parent faced her own troubles in the US banking meltdown. Growth was about 5% as the bank got into the local IPO advisory races.

8. (6) Commercial Bank of Africa: Estimated assets of 40 billion and profit of 1.4 billion. Growth of 9% from a year ago got into unit trusts, home loans, insurance, and funding of women projects. Similar to CFC and would be prime candidate for a merger.

7. (7) National Bank of Kenya: Estimated assets of 45 billion ($645 million) and profit of 1.4 billion shillings ($20 million) for 2007. NBK finally had its most of its non- performing portfolio debt albatross sorted out with a government bailout in the form of bonds maturing over the next 10 years. Now that its cleaned up, it could once again be a target of Stanbic again who two years ago offered to buy out NSSF’s 48% after their CFC merger is done in 2008 (Equity Bank is a also long shot). During the year, NBK partnered with Standard investment bank offer stockbroking services through NBK branches and also tried to have businessman Ketan Somaia jailed over an unpaid debt to the bank

Jobs

- Chase Bank; Head of ICT, senior manager operations, head of trade finance. apply by snail mail to the Head of HR 28987-00200 by 29/2
- Cabin crew at Emirates airlines
- Fina Bank Uganda: The bank is starting operation in Uganda in January 2008, and those interested in working there should send detailed CVs to hr@finabank.com.
- tough job - Head of marketing & corporate communications at Kenya Airways apply online by 15/1

New stockbroker

Finally a new stockbroker is going to be invited to join the lucrative club that is the Nairobi Stock Exchange. The number of shareholders has gone up approximately ten times from pre-Kengen IPO, but the number of stockbrokers, through which investors must trade their shares has been stuck at 18 all that time (currently 17 since Francis Thuo was suspended earlier this year).

It's only one seat to access this Kshs. 4 billion a year industry, but that can only improve the current situation. Who should win? Ideally a bank or financial institution with an extensive branch network. CFC bank - the only bank that's also a stockbroker has the widest reach nationwide when compared to several one office stockbrokers in Nairobi

Application details here and only firms that can qualify as a stockbroker or investment bank are eligible. The Application fee is Kshs 50,000 ($700) to the NSE, and 2,500 to the Capital Markets Authority. Applications should also include a company profile and statement of financial support/bank guarantee for the bid amount which is reported to have a reserve price of Kshs 150 million ($2 million). D/L of 13/8 is just over a week away.

Other News & Follow up's

- KTN reported that the housing Finance deal (buy in by Equity) could be in jeopardy owing to a burden of borrower lawsuits that could be a major liability for the bank since the introduction of in duplum rules to the banking sector. (One plaintiff won a major case against the bank last month)

- I & M: Two European development finance institutions take up a 12% stake in I&M - Kenya’s 11th largest bank

- NIC shareholders will this month be asked to vote on right issue and bonus share - in addition to modifying the company laws to expand the bank beyond Kenya, enter insurance, custodial, and investment banking, and allow unclaimed dividends by to be reinvested by the Bank until a shareholder shows up to claim them

- Welcome to the Kenya, land of milk & honey: The Safaricom IPO honey pot has attracted interest from BNP Paribas, Citicorp, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and other banking, financial and legal giants

- Next week’s East African reports on a proposed merger in the cement industry between Bamburi and East African Portland Cement companies.

- As expected parliament, without a legitimate quorum, passed the media bill

- Weak laws and evasion are robbin Kenya of tax money.

Opportunities

- Borrow up to Kshs 1,000,000 at 0% interest from Halaal Credit, but eligible only to Kenyan Sunni Muslims.

- Diaspora conference; a conference dubbed Incorporating the Preparatory Kenya Diaspora Home-Coming Forum will take place at KICC on 14-16 August, 2007. some issues will be exploring investment opportunities in Kenya, debate the Diaspora bill 2007 , building partnerships between European and African private and public sector stakeholders, SME and Diaspora sectors be mainstreamed into vision 2030, and proposal that an annual Kenya Diaspora Homecoming week be held every August of each year. Details can be got from info@kenyadiaspora.go.ke

- Design a logo and come up with a motto for the Kenya Investment Authority :

some jobs

- AON: retail broking manager, senior business development executive (health). Apply to HR@aon.co.ke by 17/8
- Chief executive officer at the export processing zones authority. Apply through manpower associates by 14/8
- KCB: branch managers, business banking managers. Apply to recruitment@kcb.co.ke by 17/8
- Safaricom: Investigator, senior fraud analyst, senior information security officer, senior information systems auditor, and a dozen technical jobs. Apply to
hr@safarciom.co.ke by 10/8
- UAP: Relationship officer, internal risk surveyor, agricultural underwriter. Apply to recruitment@uapkenya.com.