Centum Investments has sold tier three lender Sidian Bank. The lender has been sold to local businesses and firms based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a move that has seen Centum Investments lose its controlling stake.

Centum has been holding 83.43 per cent stake in Sidian Bank through its investment holding company known as Bakki Holdco Limited. Following this sale, Centum’s shareholding has been cut to 44.52 per cent. This means that no shareholder in the lender will now hold a controlling stake.

According to filings that have been made at the Companies Registry, the firms based in the UAE include Abcon International LLC, Parkview Investments Limited and Medillon Trading FZE.

These firms have been listed as shareholders of Pioneer General Insurance Limited which has taken a 20 per cent stake in Sidian Bank.

In addition, Pioneer Insurance Holdings Limited has also been listed as a shareholder while Catherine Wamuyu Wachira, Michael Kenga, Bridget Cherono and Shirazali Abdulla have been listed as the bank’s directors.

At the same time, Wizpro Enterprises Limited has acquired a 15 per cent stake in Sidian Bank. This company which was registered in 2017 lists a single director and shareholder in Solomon Muriithi Maina.

Afram Limited which was registered in July 2016 has acquired a 3.91 per cent stake in Sidian. It has named James Maina Muthoni as the single director and shareholder.

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For a long time, the bank was associated with the late billionaire industrialist Chris Kirubi who was the single largest shareholder at Centum Investments.

In 2022, Centum had entered into agreement with Nigerian lender Access Bank for the sale of a 83.4 per cent stake in Sidian. This stake was estimated to be worth Sh. 4.3 billion. This deal, however, fell apart before conclusion.

Sidian Bank was formally known as K-Rep Bank. It rebranded in April 2016 in a restructuring process that cost Sh. 500 million. The bank was acquired by Centum Investments in December 2014 after Centum bought a controlling stake.

Centum Investment acquired an additional 66 percent shareholding in K-Rep Bank Limited from several existing shareholders to bring its total stake in K-Rep to 67.54 percent in 2014.

Centum injected Sh. 1.2 billion capital out of the required Sh. 1.6 billion to turn around the bank. At the time of acquisition, Sidian had a customer base of 300,000 people.