M&A WATCH- CIB acquires majority stake in Kenyan bank as it continues its expansion outside Egypt: CIB has purchased a 51% stake in Mayfair Bank, the Central Bank of Kenya said on Friday. The bank, which is the country’s fourth-smallest lender, focuses on high net worth individuals and the corporate market, and controls 0.17% of the market with only five branches. Mayfair will capitalize on CIB’s “skills, resources and infrastructure” to help it scale up, the central bank said. The CBK said the acquisition will help boost trade and investment between the two Comesa members. CIB’s strategy with Mayfair will center on back-to-back trade finance.

CIB has injected USD 35 mn in additional capital under the agreement, Chairman Hisham Ezz Al-Arab told Reuters. CIB plans to expand the bank by prioritizing corporate banking, trade finance and the retail sector, turning it eventually into a hub for trade finance in Kenya and neighbouring countries, he added. CIB had announced in November its agreement in principle to the acquisition pending approvals, without disclosing the bank’s name at the time.

The purchase is part of CIB’s expansion into Africa: Mayfair “is a small bank but this is our idea of growing in Kenya, a very well regulated market,” and the agreement comes as part of the bank’s Africa expansion plans, Ezz AlArab told the newswire. CIB opened a representative office in Ethiopia last April as part of its strategy to expand into East Africa.