NAIROBI, Kenya – Absa Group will spend about Sh6.53 billion to increase its stake in Absa Bank Kenya to 71.99 per cent after minority shareholders largely declined to sell their shares in the lender’s voluntary tender offer.
The South African banking group had offered to acquire up to 895.99 million shares, equivalent to an additional 16.5 per cent stake, at Sh34.50 per share.
However, when the offer closed on August 11, 2026, shareholders had tendered only 189.98 million shares, representing about 21.2 per cent of the maximum number of shares Absa had sought.
Absa ultimately accepted 189.38 million shares from 2,045 shareholders, equivalent to 99.7 per cent of the valid shares offered.
The transaction will increase Absa Group’s holding in the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed lender from 68.5 per cent to 71.99 per cent.
Absa spends fraction of Sh30.91bn offer
At the offer price of Sh34.50 per share, the accepted shares will cost Absa Group approximately Sh6.53 billion.
This is significantly below the Sh30.91 billion that the parent company would have spent had shareholders tendered the maximum 895.99 million shares.
Absa had structured the voluntary offer to increase its ownership of Absa Bank Kenya to as much as 85 per cent, while retaining the subsidiary’s listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
Following the transaction, minority shareholders will retain approximately 28.01 per cent of the bank.
Had the offer been fully taken up, the public shareholding would have fallen to about 15 per cent.
Shareholders reject premium offer
The limited uptake came despite Absa offering a significant premium to the bank’s prevailing market prices before the tender was announced.
The Sh34.50 offer price represented a:
- 20 per cent premium to the 30-day volume-weighted average price;
- 18.9 per cent premium to the 90-day average; and
- 28.2 per cent premium to the 180-day average.
The response suggests that a large proportion of minority shareholders preferred to retain their investment in Absa Bank Kenya rather than sell at the offered price.
The tender results therefore leave Absa Group with a substantially larger economic interest in its Kenyan subsidiary, but well short of the maximum ownership level it had sought.
Sharp contrast with EABL tender
The outcome contrasts sharply with Diageo’s 2023 partial tender offer for East African Breweries Plc (EABL), another major transaction in which a controlling shareholder sought to increase its stake while retaining the company’s NSE listing.
Diageo sought to acquire 118.39 million EABL shares at Sh192 each, targeting an increase in its ownership from 50.03 per cent to 65 per cent.
Shareholders ultimately tendered approximately 143.5 million shares, representing 121.2 per cent of the shares sought.
Because demand exceeded the maximum number of shares Diageo was prepared to acquire, the company accepted only the 118.39 million shares covered by its offer.
Absa’s experience was markedly different, with the bank receiving barely one-fifth of the shares it had sought.
