KENYA: Deal on Chase Bank runs into shareholder wall

Central Bank of Kenya governor Dr Patrick Njoroge. Chase Bank shareholders say the offer by SMB Holdings of Mauritius is discriminatory and amounts to liquidation. PHOTO | NMG

Three days before the Central Bank of Kenya made public its receipt of a non-binding offer from Mauritian lender SBM for Chase Bank, governor Patrick Njoroge sought to get the buy-in of stakeholders of the troubled financier.

After presenting details of what SBM Holdings Ltd, already a player in the Kenya banking scene after acquiring Fidelity Bank, Dr Njoroge invited questions from the audience, mainly depositors and shareholders.