Imperial Bank targets Sh1.3bn from Uganda subsidiary stake sale

Forensic auditors of Imperial Bank, which is under statutory management, say the lender is looking at raising Sh1.25 billion from the sale of its 51 per cent stake in its Uganda operations.

Cash from the sale will help fill the funding gap in the collapsed Kenya operations estimated at Sh34.5 billion.

“Sale of 51 per cent majority stake in Imperial Bank Uganda is estimated to raise Sh1.25 billion. Imperial Bank Uganda was unaffected by funding gap in Kenya - can be sold as a going concern,” recommends a report by FTI Consulting, forensic auditors appointed by Imperial Bank shareholders.

Bank of Uganda took charge of the Kampala operations immediately the parent Kenyan company was closed on October 13 last year. The Ugandan regulator has been looking for a buyer since.

Imperial Bank Uganda was yet to record profit having sunk deeper into the red with a loss of Sh671.1 million as at December 2014, from Sh63.5 million a year earlier.

The Ugandan unit was set up in 2010 at a cost of Sh448 million and has six branches in the land-locked East African economy. Imperial Bank valued its investment in the subsidiary at Sh858 million at the end of 2014.

READ: Imperial Bank owners to plough proceeds from sale of Kampala unit into Kenyan firm

In 2012 it injected an additional Sh273 million in the subsidiary putting its investment at Sh721 million, which was followed by further capital injection in 2013 before a divesture in 2014 reduced its investment to Sh858 million.

The Kenyan unit previously owned 63.5 per cent of the Uganda operations but cut its shareholding to 58.6 per cent in 2014 through the sale of 36,262 shares, and to 51 per cent by the time of its collapse.

Imperial Bank Uganda held Sh7.8 billion in customer deposits in the half-year ended June 2015 with a loan book of Sh5.2 billion.

Imperial Bank owners are under pressure from the CBK to raise Sh20 billion in new capital for revival, to be complemented by conversion of Sh10 billion deposits to equity.

But shareholders are only willing to raise Sh10 billion and with double the amount funded by the depositors.

The CBK argues the shareholders need to carry a heavier burden than the hapless depositors given they had a responsibility to check their rogue management.

The shareholders held their first press briefing Tuesday where some wept liberally.

Imperial Bank was the first lender with regional operations to be put under statutory management by the regulator creating a new regulatory headache.