Centum Investment Company has sold its entire stake in Sidian Bank, ending its 25-year relationship with the fast-growing lender.
The firm said in a notice on Friday that it has completed the sale of the equity stake it held through Bakki Holdco Limited.
Centum owned a 50 percent stake in Bakki, which in turn held a 27.2 percent stake in Sidian Bank, effectively giving the investment firm a 13.6 percent stake in the lender.
“This divestment marks the conclusion of Centum’s exit from Sidian Bank Limited. The exit represents an important milestone in Centum’s portfolio management strategy, aimed at strengthening the group’s liquidity position and reallocating capital toward new growth investment opportunities,” said Centum in a public notice.
Centum has not disclosed the buyer of the stake or the amount it received from the deal, only indicating that the financial effects of the transaction will be reflected in its next financial reporting cycle for the financial year ending March 2026.
“The company expects the sale to result in a modest financial gain relative to the previously reported carrying value of Bakki Holdco Limited in Centum’s books,” it said.
The carrying value of the Sidian Bank investment was Sh1.1 billion. Centum chief executive James Mworia had not responded to queries on the buyer of the stake and the value of the deal by the time of publishing this story.
Sidian was in September last year upgraded to a mid-tier lender following increased business from large corporate accounts, including government institutions such as Nairobi County and the Social Health Authority, as well as its role as a receiving agent for the housing levy.
The lender’s assets hit Sh94.8 billion as at September 2025, up from Sh57.07 billion in the same period in 2024 and Sh44.79 billion in December 2023.
Over the same period, deposits more than doubled to Sh78.11 billion in September 2025 from Sh27.6 billion in December 2023.
Deal history
The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm first invested in Sidian in 2001 when the lender operated as K-Rep Bank.
In November 2014, Centum acquired a 66 percent shareholding in the bank, lifting its stake to 67.54 percent.
The investment firm has been reducing its stake in the lender through a series of transactions that began in 2023.
The deals brought in new investors including Pioneer General Insurance (16.89 percent), Wizpro Enterprises (24.95 percent), Afram Limited (24.36 percent), Telesec Africa (3.47 percent) and Pioneer Life Investments with a 3.06 percent stake prior to the latest deal.
Centum’s previous disclosures show that Bakki held an 81.18 percent stake in Sidian in the financial year ended March 2023. However, it disposed of 1.9 million shares to other shareholders during the following financial year, leaving it with a 40 percent stake.
The 2024 transaction saw Centum’s investment in Sidian reclassified from a subsidiary to an associate. In the same year, Centum, which had previously fully owned Bakki, sold a 50 percent stake in the holding company to a third-party shareholder.
Centum had initially agreed to sell its 83.4 percent stake in Sidian to Nigeria’s Access Bank for Sh4.3 billion, but the deal, first announced in June 2022, collapsed the following year. The failed transaction pushed Centum to pursue a series of alternative deals.
