Pan-African banking group United Bank for Africa (UBA) has acquired more stakes in its Kenyan and Ugandan subsidiaries in the wake of a rush by Nigerian lenders to penetrate the East African banking market now under the control of Kenyan retail banks.The Nigerian billionaire Tony Elumelu-owned lender acquired 13 percent and 11 percent additional shares in UBA Kenya Ltd and UBA Uganda Ltd respectively in 2022, signalling the lender’s growing appetite for investment in a market with more than 300 million people. It also runs subsidiaries in Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).The share sale increased UBA Plc’s shareholding in the Kenyan and Ugandan units from 81 percent and 69 percent to 94 percent and 80 percent respectively, according to the lender’s latest annual report (2023).

The additional stakes in the Kenyan and Ugandan units were collectively acquired at NGN 18.49 billion ($16.04 million) comprising a payment of NGN6.96 billion ($6.03 million) for the 11 percent stake in Uganda subsidiary and NGN 11.52 billion ($9.99 million) for the 13 percent stake in the Kenyan subsidiary.In addition to the share purchase, UBA plc further injected NGN 17.32 billion ($15.02 million) of additional capital in the two subsidiaries in 2023 that included NGN 5.14 billion ($4.45 million) and NGN 12.17 billion ($10.55 million) worth of additional investments in Kenya and Uganda respectively.