The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has in its order to the NIC-CBA banks merger defended the jobs of employees.
The authority approved the proposed merger albeit on the condition that all employees of the two banks be retained for at least one year before any laying off is done.
This is as both CBA and NIC had said there was a possibility of branch closures where overlaps exist, posing a definite threat to staff employed in the branches set to be shut down.
In compliance to the reservation, the two banks stand to accumulate a total net profit of Sh9.23 billion. This is Sh3.47 billion lower than Cooperative Bank’s Sh12.7 billion net profit.
This is as the merger is set to bring together a group of affluent individuals in the country, with the ilk of the Kenyattas and Merali.
The merger will count among its top owners some of Kenya’s most renowned billionaire investors and political figures.
President Uhuru Kenyatta; his brother Muhoho and former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta will together directly hold stakes worth a combined Sh8.5 billion.
The Phillip Ndegwa family, which founded NIC Bank, will own an equivalent of Sh8.6 billion in the combined entity while billionaire businessman Naushad Merali will hold a stake worth about Sh1.9 billion.
Records from the Registrar of Companies have revealed the underlying ownership of the privately-held CBA bank, whose investors will control a combined 53 percent stake in the merged outfit that is set to start trading on the Nairobi Securities Exchange later this year with a market capitalisation of more than Sh65 billion.