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Kenya Appoints PKF for Consolidated Bank Rights Offer Advice

Kenya Appoints PKF to Advise on Consolidated Bank Rights Offer

(Bloomberg) -- Kenya’s government appointed PKF Consulting Ltd. to advise on plans to raise additional capital for Consolidated Bank of Kenya Ltd., a state-owned lender being prepared for sale to private investors.

The Privatization Commission will sign a contract with the Nairobi-based consultancy after a mandatory 14-day administrative review period has lapsed, Jacqueline Muindi, the commission’s acting chief executive officer, said in an interview Thursday.

“Our task involves doing due diligence, valuation and preparing an information memorandum for the offer,” PKC Chief Executive Officer Atul Shah said by phone. “I think it will take between two to four months to have everything ready.”

PKF’s bid beat applications from rivals including Standard Investment Bank Ltd., Genghis Capital Ltd., Simba & Simba Advocates and PwC. The consultant is expected to advise loss-making Consolidated Bank on its plans to raise 2.5 billion shillings ($25 million) in the second half of this year to meet rules on capital buffers.

Consolidated Bank, which was incorporated in 1989 by combining nine insolvent lenders, is among four banks that the government has previously said it’s considering selling. The state owns 78 percent of Consolidated, which has been considered for privatization since at least 2006.

Consolidated’s total capital as a ratio of risk-weighted assets deteriorated further to 5.1 percent in December 2017 from 7.9 percent a year earlier, compared with a regulatory minimum of 14.5 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Herbling in Nairobi at dherbling@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Vernon Wessels

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