Author: Muindi

A private cables company with no prior public profile has signed a deal to acquire East African Cables, the once-dominant NSE-listed manufacturer whose years-long insolvency battle erased shareholder value and brought trading in its shares to a halt. Cable Experts Limited (CEL) signed a Share Purchase Agreement on May 19, 2026, to acquire the entire 68.37% controlling stake that TransCentury PLC holds through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Cable Holdings (Kenya) Limited. The sellers are TransCentury’s court-appointed Joint Receivers, Muniu Thoithi and George Weru of PricewaterhouseCoopers Kenya, acting under High Court supervision. If regulators approve the deal, it would mark the end…

NCBA Group delivered its strongest net interest income since its 2019 merger, posting a first quarter profit after tax of KSh 6.0 billion for the three months to March 2026, up 8.8% from KSh 5.5 billion a year earlier. The result arrived days before Nedbank Group Limited’s partial offer to acquire approximately 66% of NCBA’s issued shares opens on 28 May 2026. Falling Deposit Costs Drive Income Growth Interest expense has dropped 49% from a KSh 10.84 billion peak in Q1 2024, tracking ten consecutive Central Bank of Kenya rate cuts that steadily repriced the deposit base downward. Customer deposit…

Sidian Bank earned KSh 607.03 million in profit after tax for the quarter ended 31 March 2026, a 9.0% increase from KSh 556.94 million in the same period a year earlier. The result extends a profit recovery that has repositioned the lender as a credible mid-tier player in Kenya’s banking sector over the past two years. Income: Government Securities Drive the Gains Net interest income more than doubled to KSh 1.61 billion from KSh 736.58 million in Q1 2025. The jump traced back to a 61.9% surge in total interest income to KSh 2.88 billion, as the bank collected increasingly…

I&M Bank Limited has closed the first tranche of its Kenya Shilling denominated Medium Term Note Programme, attracting KES 23.22 billion in total applications against a KES 10 billion target. This overwhelming response represents a 232.26% subscription rate. To accommodate the intense investor appetite, the bank activated its KES 3 billion green shoe option, increasing the total allocation for this initial tranche to KES 13 billion. This exceptional turnout demonstrates deep investor trust in the financial stability, governance, and long term trajectory of the bank. The transaction also signals a broader revival within the Kenyan capital markets. Institutional and private…

Commuters across Kenya will pay significantly more for public transport starting immediately, after matatu operators announced a 50 percent fare increase and threatened to pull all vehicles off the road from Monday, May 18. For a commuter who paid Ksh100 for a single trip Friday, that journey now costs Ksh150. Operators say the new fares take effect across all routes in Nairobi and the rest of the country without delay. What Triggered the Increase The announcement came within hours of the government raising fuel prices for the cycle running May 15 to June 14, 2026. Super Petrol in Nairobi now…

Kenya’s diaspora sent home $397.8 million in April 2026, retreating 11.7 percent from the record $450.3 million recorded in March. The pullback touched every major sending corridor at once, pointing to seasonal cooling rather than a shift in underlying behaviour. The bigger story sits in the 12-month figures. Rolling annual inflows to April 2026 reached $5.053 billion, up 1.1 percent from $4.997 billion over the same period in 2025. For the first time, diaspora transfers have crossed the $5 billion mark, earning a place alongside tea and tourism as a foundation of Kenya’s foreign exchange earnings. North America Carries More…