Kenya's Centum calls off sale of Sidian Bank majority stake to Nigeria's Access Bank

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's Centum Investment Co. Plc said it had ended a pact with Nigeria's Access Bank to sell its 83.4% shareholding in Kenya's Sidian Bank, as the timeframe for completion of the transaction had lapsed.

In June, Centum announced plans to sell the stake to Access Bank, a subsidiary of Access Holdings, subject to regulatory approval in Kenya and Nigeria.

Centum said in a statement late on Thursday that the planned sale was to be guided by conditions set out in the share purchase (SPA) agreement that were meant to be met by a certain date, known as the 'Long Stop Date'.

"Centum was not able to reach acceptable terms with Access Bank PLC for extension of the SPA and therefore opted not to pursue extension of the same," Centum said.

Centum had said in November it had expected the sale to be completed in December.

Had the 4.3 billion shilling ($35 million) transaction proceeded, it would have been the second acquisition in Kenya for Access Bank, which acquired Transnational Bank, now called Access Bank Kenya, in 2020.

($1 = 123.7000 Kenyan shillings)

(Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)