Businessman Muhoho Kenyatta has made a comeback to the family business’s banking unit, NCBA Group, amid reports of buyout talks with Africa’s largest lender, Standard Bank Group.
The bank said Mr Muhoho will serve as a non-executive director beginning December 1 without giving details of whether his entry will see the exit of any of the current serving 10 directors.
Mr Muhoho had served in CBA Bank, partly owned by the Kenyatta family, for 19 years before its merger with NIC Bank in 2019 to form NCBA.
His board appointment comes amid reports that South African Standard Bank Group has opened talks to buy out NCBA through its Kenyan affiliate, Stanbic Holdings, in a deal that could be concluded in months.
Mr Muhoho’s return gives the Kenyatta family a direct voice in NCBA, where it owns a 13.2 percent stake.
The family of former Central Bank of Kenya governor Philip Ndegwa controls 14.9 percent of the bank through First Chartered Securities Limited.
Two of the Ndegwa brothers, James and Andrew, sit on the NCBA Board, with one serving as the chair.
“The Board of Directors of NCBA Group PLC is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Muhoho Kenyatta as a Non-Executive Director, effective 1st December, 2025,” said NCBA Group managing director John Gachora.
“Mr Kenyatta is an accomplished business executive with over 35 years of experience in leading and developing businesses across East Africa, spanning diverse sectors including manufacturing, healthcare, insurance, and banking,” added Mr Gachora.
Mr Muhoho had played a pivotal role in the management and expansion of the Kenyatta family’s business interests, including Brookside Dairies where he sits as executive chairman.
There’s no reliable estimate of the Kenyatta family’s net worth but its vast business interests span transport, insurance, hotels, farming, land ownership and the media industry in Kenya.
“Mr Kenyatta has previously served as Deputy Chairman of one of the predecessor institutions of NCBA between 2000 and 2019, and as a director of NCBA Bank Uganda. He continues to support the Group’s growth in its digital strategy as a member of the Board of LOOP DFS Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of NCBA Group PLC,” said Mr Gachora.
Mr Muhoho is the younger brother of former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The Kenyatta family established its political and business interests during the rule of Kenya’s first president, Uhuru’s father Jomo.
After his death, Mama Ngina, his fourth wife, played a pivotal role in expanding the family’s business interests, with the help of experienced international wealth experts, notably from private banks like the Swiss bank Union Bancaire Privée (UBP).
Besides the Sh18.5 billion NCBA stake and Brookside Diaries, the family’s other investments include high-end Peponi School and the upmarket and chic hotel chain, Heritage Hotels East Africa.
The family is also linked to Media Max Company, which owns K24 TV, Kameme Radio and The People Daily newspaper.
It also owns thousands of acres of prime land across Kenya that was acquired by the late President Kenyatta in the 1960s and 1970s under a settlement transfer fund scheme that allowed government officials to acquire land from the British.
Uhuru’s assumption of the presidency injected fresh energy into his family’s commercial empire with expansion plans, buyouts and mergers taking centre stage.
Now, another deal beckons, with the pursuit from Standard Bank Group.
The combined Stanbic and NCBA will have assets in excess of Sh1.1 trillion, according to their latest filings, which would make it the largest after Equity Group Holdings Plc and KCB Group Plc.
Talks are ongoing, and there is no guarantee that a deal will be finalised. Plans are to try and conclude a transaction in the coming months, said the people quoted by Bloomberg.
A successful buyout would see the transfer of a prominent local institution into foreign hands, with the merged entity leapfrogging Co-operative Bank of Kenya into the third-largest lender by assets.
It would mark the return of a powerful foreign-owned player to the top three league of the country’s banking hierarchy — a space that has for the past decade been dominated by homegrown lenders.
Kenya is home to 38 commercial banks and authorities have been urging consolidation to form more resilient lenders with deeper pockets to cater to a rapidly expanding region with a young and growing population.
Stanbic had 310,000 customers and 30 branches at the end of June 2025, compared with NCBA, which had 121 branches serving 415,000 customers in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.
NCBA Group is a product of the 2019 merger between Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) and NIC to achieve scale and strength. CBA brought digital strength and retail reach through platforms like M-Shwari, while NIC had strengths in corporate banking and asset finance expertise.
M-Shwari is also another attraction to Standard Bank, which owns a 75 percent stake in Stanbic, given its ability to serve the underdeveloped market and people, especially in rural areas who still keep their cash in mattresses at home.
The deal aligns with Standard Bank’s strategy to be a top-three player in its African markets, with a current focus on East Africa given growth opportunities.
