The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has so far received five suitors seeking to buy the collapsed Chase Bank. CBK governor Dr Patrick Njoroge said today the prospective buyers comprise both local and foreign businesses.
The growing interest in Chase Bank has raised prospects of the collapsed bank as investors seem to see huge potential in it than others that collapsed in the past such as Imperial and Dubai. “We have received upwards of five institutions, both local and foreign, wanting to buy the bank. We are evaluating this interests,” said Dr Njoroge during a press briefing.
The CBK governor said the regulator considered reviving Chase Bank to be a much easier undertaking than in the case of Imperial Bank, which collapsed last October.
For Chase Bank, he said, assets could be identified and sold while there was also willingness by the shareholders and directors to move quickly and resolve the outstanding matters including completion of registration of collateral documents for the previously unsecured loans.
However in the case of Imperial Bank, there was outright f***d that needed to be dealt with, he said.
Early last week, the Business Daily carried a report showing that KCB Group, Centum Investments, I&M, Equity and Commercial Bank of Africa were interested in purchasing the bank. Chase Bank collapsed last Thursday following a ran that drained Ksh8 billion from the bank in one day.
It later emerged that the bank had loaned Ksh16.6 billion irregularly and the external auditor expressed inability to establish the state of the institution’s finances.
