Notable FinTech Deals That Made Headlines in H’1 of 2019 in Kenya

The growing interest in the FinTech sector is driven by Africa’s low penetration rates for traditional banking services at 25 percent and high mobile penetration at 44 percent.
According to Cytonn Investments, investors will continue to show interest in the FinTech sector in Sub-Saharan Africa as more businesses seek to enhance efficiency and reduce costs by incorporating technology in their operations.
Furthermore, the significant difference in credit extension activity in Africa compared to other regions gives FinTech lending firms a perfect opportunity to provide credit via convenient and already established channels.
Here are some of the notable deals that made headlines in Kenya in H’1 2019:
The first notable FinTech deal made was when Private Equity firms AfricInvest, based in Tunisia, and Catalyst Principal Partners, based in Kenya, acquired a minority stake in Prime Bank Kenya.
The stake acquired was 24.2 percent of Prime Bank Kenya, through a capital injection of 5.1 billion shillings, with the capital targeted to carry out strategic plans including expanding locally and into the region.
This was the first bank acquisition in 2019, and in line with Cytonn’s expectation of consolidation in the Kenya banking sector following the enactment of the Banking (Amendment) Act, 2015 and the fact that Kenya is overbanked, as highlighted in our Q3’2018 Banking Sector Report.
Read Also: AfricInvest Invests a Further Ksh 273 Million in Britam Holdings Ltd
The second FinTech deal made was when AfricInvest also announced a further investment of 273.0 million shillings in insurance group Britam.
From the investment, AfricInvest acquired an extra 32.5 million shillings shares at 8.4 shillings per share, a stake of 3.3 percent.
The third FinTech deal was between Sanlam Group, a South African financial services firm and Sanlam Investments East Africa (SIEA), an asset management firm based in Kenya.
Sanlam Group sold an undisclosed amount of its stake in SIEA for ZAR 101.0 million (730 million shillings) to an undisclosed party.
SIEA currently manages an asset portfolio of over 200 billion shillings, with a Money Market Fund size of 1.7 billion shillings as at 31st December 2018, ranking it as the 5th largest asset manager in Kenya in terms of assets under management for Money Market Funds.
Lastly, Mauritius based Bank One, in which Kenyan banking group I&M Holdings has a 50 percent stake, is set to receive a USD 37.5 million (3.8 billion shillings) loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), with an undisclosed tenor.
The loan will be classified as senior debt, therefore ranking higher than other Bank One’s obligations.
Read Also: Bank One to Receive Kshs 3.8 Billion Loan from The IFC
About Soko Directory Team
Soko Directory is a Financial and Markets digital portal that tracks brands, listed firms on the NSE, SMEs and trend setters in the markets eco-system.Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/SokoDirectory and on Twitter: twitter.com/SokoDirectory
- January 2025 (119)
- February 2025 (191)
- March 2025 (212)
- April 2025 (192)
- May 2025 (159)
- June 2025 (67)
- January 2024 (238)
- February 2024 (227)
- March 2024 (190)
- April 2024 (133)
- May 2024 (157)
- June 2024 (145)
- July 2024 (136)
- August 2024 (154)
- September 2024 (212)
- October 2024 (255)
- November 2024 (196)
- December 2024 (143)
- January 2023 (182)
- February 2023 (203)
- March 2023 (322)
- April 2023 (297)
- May 2023 (267)
- June 2023 (214)
- July 2023 (212)
- August 2023 (257)
- September 2023 (237)
- October 2023 (264)
- November 2023 (286)
- December 2023 (177)
- January 2022 (293)
- February 2022 (329)
- March 2022 (358)
- April 2022 (292)
- May 2022 (271)
- June 2022 (232)
- July 2022 (278)
- August 2022 (253)
- September 2022 (246)
- October 2022 (196)
- November 2022 (232)
- December 2022 (167)
- January 2021 (182)
- February 2021 (227)
- March 2021 (325)
- April 2021 (259)
- May 2021 (285)
- June 2021 (272)
- July 2021 (277)
- August 2021 (232)
- September 2021 (271)
- October 2021 (304)
- November 2021 (364)
- December 2021 (249)
- January 2020 (272)
- February 2020 (310)
- March 2020 (390)
- April 2020 (321)
- May 2020 (335)
- June 2020 (327)
- July 2020 (333)
- August 2020 (276)
- September 2020 (214)
- October 2020 (233)
- November 2020 (242)
- December 2020 (187)
- January 2019 (251)
- February 2019 (215)
- March 2019 (283)
- April 2019 (254)
- May 2019 (269)
- June 2019 (249)
- July 2019 (335)
- August 2019 (293)
- September 2019 (306)
- October 2019 (313)
- November 2019 (362)
- December 2019 (318)
- January 2018 (291)
- February 2018 (213)
- March 2018 (275)
- April 2018 (223)
- May 2018 (235)
- June 2018 (176)
- July 2018 (256)
- August 2018 (247)
- September 2018 (255)
- October 2018 (282)
- November 2018 (282)
- December 2018 (184)
- January 2017 (183)
- February 2017 (194)
- March 2017 (207)
- April 2017 (104)
- May 2017 (169)
- June 2017 (205)
- July 2017 (189)
- August 2017 (195)
- September 2017 (186)
- October 2017 (235)
- November 2017 (253)
- December 2017 (266)
- January 2016 (164)
- February 2016 (165)
- March 2016 (189)
- April 2016 (143)
- May 2016 (245)
- June 2016 (182)
- July 2016 (271)
- August 2016 (247)
- September 2016 (233)
- October 2016 (191)
- November 2016 (243)
- December 2016 (153)
- January 2015 (1)
- February 2015 (4)
- March 2015 (164)
- April 2015 (107)
- May 2015 (116)
- June 2015 (119)
- July 2015 (145)
- August 2015 (157)
- September 2015 (186)
- October 2015 (169)
- November 2015 (173)
- December 2015 (205)
- March 2014 (2)
- March 2013 (10)
- June 2013 (1)
- March 2012 (7)
- April 2012 (15)
- May 2012 (1)
- July 2012 (1)
- August 2012 (4)
- October 2012 (2)
- November 2012 (2)
- December 2012 (1)