From Safaricom to NCBA-Nedbank: How Faida Investment Has Built a Legacy Advising Kenya’s Biggest Deals

When the news broke that Faida Investment Bank had been appointed as Independent Financial Adviser to the NCBA Board on its transaction with Nedbank, few in Kenya’s financial circles were surprised.

For those who have watched the local capital markets grow from their early years into a sophisticated regional hub, Faida’s name has become almost synonymous with the biggest and most consequential deals to pass through the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and beyond. This latest mandate is not an isolated win. It is the newest chapter in a story that spans more than 31 years of quiet, consistent excellence.

There is a difference between an investment bank that simply exists in the market and one that has genuinely earned the trust of governments, regulators, listed companies and everyday investors. Faida Investment Bank falls firmly into the latter category, and the NCBA Nedbank mandate is proof of that distinction.

As an Independent Financial Adviser, Faida’s role was not ceremonial. The bank was tasked with providing an unbiased opinion on whether Nedbank’s offer was fair and reasonable to NCBA shareholders. This responsibility demands rigorous analysis, deep sector knowledge and, above all, unquestionable integrity. This is precisely the kind of assignment that separates a truly credible advisory house from one that merely claims the title.

What makes this transaction particularly notable is its scale and significance. The NCBA Nedbank deal represents one of the most important cross-border financial services transactions to emerge from East Africa in recent memory, and it speaks to the growing maturity of the region’s capital markets. That a Kenyan institution was entrusted with such a pivotal advisory role, on a transaction expected to reshape regional banking integration while preserving NCBA’s public listing, is a powerful statement about the caliber of expertise available locally. It also reaffirms something many market watchers already understood: Faida Investment Bank operates at a level that rivals, and in many respects surpasses, larger international names.

To understand why Faida continues to win these landmark mandates, one has to look back at the sheer breadth of transactions the firm has shepherded through Kenya’s capital markets over the decades. Few institutions can claim a portfolio that includes the historic Safaricom PLC Initial Public Offering, valued at 50 billion shillings in 2008, a moment that fundamentally changed how ordinary Kenyans viewed stock market investing.

Faida also played a central role in the Cooperative Bank of Kenya IPO the same year, as well as the KenGen Rights Issue of 28 billion shillings in 2016 and the Family Bank Corporate Bond of 10 billion shillings that same year. These are not minor footnotes in Kenya’s financial history. They are foundational moments that helped shape the trajectory of the country’s entire capital markets ecosystem, and Faida was there, advising, structuring and guiding these transactions to successful completion.

More recently, the firm’s fingerprints can be found on some of the largest and most complex deals in the region, including the Kenya Pipeline Company Transaction Advisory mandate worth 106.5 billion shillings in 2026, the Acorn D REIT and I REIT commercial paper placements, and share buyback advisory work for both Nation Media Group and Centum Investments. Add to this list an impressive roster of corporate clients such as Britam, the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, I&M Bank Rwanda, Carbacid Investments, Crown Paints Kenya, Unga Group, KCB Bank and the Central Depository and Settlement Corporation, and a clear pattern emerges. Faida is not chasing headlines. It is consistently chosen, deal after deal, by institutions that have every reason to demand the very best.

This kind of sustained relevance across more than three decades does not happen by accident. It requires an organization that invests in deep technical capability across mergers and acquisitions, valuations, fairness opinions, capital raising and corporate restructuring. It requires a team that understands not just the numbers behind a transaction but the regulatory, strategic and reputational dimensions that come with advising some of the most scrutinized institutions in the region. And it requires a culture that treats every mandate, whether for a first-time issuer or a repeat multinational client, with the same level of diligence and care.

There is also something to be said about resilience. Kenya’s capital markets have gone through periods of significant volatility over the past thirty years, from global financial crises to local economic headwinds and shifting regulatory landscapes. Firms that survive and thrive through these cycles, continuing to attract flagship mandates decade after decade, demonstrate a kind of institutional durability that cannot be manufactured overnight.

Faida’s continued presence at the center of Kenya’s most important financial transactions, licensed and regulated throughout by the Capital Markets Authority, speaks to a level of stability that both local and international clients have come to rely on.

As the NCBA Nedbank transaction moves toward completion pending regulatory approval, it serves as a timely reminder of what sets Faida Investment Bank apart. This is not simply another advisory firm competing for market share. It is an institution whose history is written into the very fabric of Kenya’s capital markets development, from the Safaricom IPO that opened stock market investing to millions of Kenyans, to the complex cross-border banking transactions defining the region’s financial future today.

For businesses, governments and investors seeking a partner capable of unlocking long-term value while navigating complexity with integrity, Faida Investment Bank’s track record speaks for itself. Trust, once earned over three decades of consistent delivery, becomes more than a marketing phrase. It becomes a legacy.

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