This archive report was first published on 28 November 2019.
Published on November 28, 2019, a US-based financial company, Amassment Corporation, has made another bid to acquire the assets of Imperial Bank. This move comes after they expressed readiness to lower the contribution required from the Kenya Depositors Insurance Corporation (KDIC) in the acquisition.
Initially, Amassment Corporation had sought to assume all remaining Imperial Bank deposits amounting to KSh49.03 billion. This would be followed by an equal face-value amount of loan assets, including 50% of the current loans in litigation. Additionally, the corporation wanted KDIC to contribute cash capital of 20% of what the corporation owes to remaining depositors into the special purpose firm. This contribution was meant to partially compensate for value declines sustained by loan assets, litigation costs, as well as losses from non-performing loans that the new firm would assume.
However, KDIC turned down the firm's offer, deeming it below par. The corporation's interest in the lender follows KCB's announcement that it would not be buying all of Imperial Bank's assets.
Imperial Bank was placed under receivership in October 2015 by the Central Bank after it emerged that the lender was operating two sets of books, with a potential fraud of $449 million. This placed depositor funds at risk.
