Shareholders of I&M Holdings have approved the Share Purchase Agreement that will see it acquire 87,075,000 ordinary shares in Orient Bank Limited, Uganda, constituting 90% of the entire issued share capital of the Ugandan lender.
The shares acquired belong to Dr Ketan Morjaria, Hemlata Karia, Jay Karia, Morka Holdings Limited, Zhong Shuang Quan, and Cornerstone M8 Limited.
This transaction will still be subject to approval from the Central Bank of Kenya, the Bank of Uganda, the Capital Markets Authority, and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Competition Authority.
The Board also said it will expand its size to between 7-12 persons to accommodate the new acquisition.
In a letter to the Nairobi Securities Exchange(NSE) dated  December 4th, 2020, the Board said the I&M expects its pre-tax profit to drop significantly as the pandemic cuts business volumes and increase credit risks.
Orient Bank has operations in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Mauritius. I&M joins other Kenyan banks that have a presence in the East African region namely DTB, KC, Equity, and Co-operative Banks.
I&M’s plans to expand into Uganda date back to 2013 when it announced that it would use part of the Ksh10 billion it raised in a bond to expand into the country.
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