Nigeria’s Guaranty Trust Bank plans Kenyan acquisition

Bloomberg | Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Nigeria’s biggest lender by market value, plans to acquire a Kenyan lender as part of its expansion on the continent, according to the managing director.

“I think the place we will still like to do business or do an acquisition is Kenya,” Segun Agbaje, chief executive said at an investor call in Lagos, without giving a time-line for the acquisition.

The Lagos-based lender already has offices in 10 countries outside Nigeria including Kenya. It wants to increase the contribution of African subsidiaries to the bank’s income to about 30 percent of profit before tax in the next 3 years from 15.3 percent in 2020.

Banks in Africa’s most populous country are expanding on the continent and diversifying outside their core operations as they seek to grow after the COVID-19 pandemic and two economic contractions in 4 years shuttered businesses and limited lending opportunities at home.

Guaranty Trust is expecting the approval by regulators of a move to transition into a financial holding company in the second half, which will enable it start payments and asset management units, Agbaje said. It targets 10 percent growth in the loan book this year and pre-tax profit of 243 billion naira (US$639 million) from 238.1 billion naira (US$627 million).