Egypt’s Commercial International Bank acquires 51% of Kenya’s Mayfair

Egypt’s biggest private bank, Commercial International Bank (CIB) has acquired a 51 percent stake in Kenya’s Mayfair Bank, the Kenyan central bank announced on Friday.

The move is the latest in a string of deals in the Kenyan banking sector.

Mayfair, which was founded in 2017, controls just 0.2 percent of the market and is expected to benefit from funds, skills, and banking infrastructure from CIB to help it grow, the central bank added.

CIB is the first Egyptian bank to venture into the Kenyan market.

“Its entry will also strengthen the trade and investment ties between Kenya and Egypt,” the central bank said in a statement.

Under the deal, CIB has injected additional capital of $35 million into Mayfair, CIB’s Chairman Hisham Ezz Al-Arab, told Reuters.

“The bank (Mayfair) is a small bank but this is our idea of growing in Kenya, a very well regulated market. The deal is part of our expansion in Africa,” Ezz Al-Arab said, citing the recent opening of a representative office in Ethiopia.

CIB is planning to expand the bank by focusing on the retail segment, corporate banking, and trade finance, he said.

Ezz Al-Arab said he hope CIB would turn Mayfair into a hub for trade finance in Kenya and the neighbouring countries.