The firm says the funds will be used as capital in its first year of operations/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 11 – SBM Holdings has planned to inject Sh2.6 billion in Fidelity Commercial Bank after acquiring it.
The firm says the funds will be used as capital in its first year of operations.
Following the completion of the acquisition, Fidelity Commercial Bank will now operate under the legal entity SBM Bank (Kenya) Limited, and will result in rebranding of all branches and ATMs to SBM Bank.
SBM Bank (Kenya) Limited will retain branches and staff members of the acquired bank and will thus have six branches in Nairobi and four in Mombasa which will soon offer its revamped suite of products and services to all existing customers.
SBM also announced the appointment of a new Board of Directors for SBM Bank (Kenya).
The new Board of Directors include Flora Mutahi, Jim McFee and Sharad Rao with Jotham Mutoka as the acting CEO ahead of the appointment of a Kenyan Managing Director to be announced at a later date.
SBM Bank (Kenya) Limited intends to focus initially on the Corporate and SME segments.
Chairman of the SBM Holdings Kee Chong Li Kwong Wing, says that SBM Group has been accessing corporate clients in Kenya through its off-shore segment, extending funded credit facilities.
“Now, it is a shift from suitcase banking to direct brick-and-mortar branch banking. SBM’s entry into Africa begins from Kenya as hub for East Africa expansion followed by expansion into other regions.”
“The strength of SBM is its ability to deploy capital and liquidity from other operating jurisdictions, and provide comfort to wholesale depositors in Kenya for placement of their surplus funds. The credit deployment in the initial stage would be to large corporates and the SME segment before extension into retail and small finance products,” he noted.
Founded in September 1973 and headquartered in Mauritius, SBM is one of the leading financial institutions in the country, with total assets of Sh437 billion as at December 2016.
The firm is listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius, with a market capitalisation of Sh59.3 billion as at January 31, 2017, representing third largest listed companies in Mauritius.
