Nairobi, March 22 -- Mergers and acquisitions are a source of big and exciting news stories for business journalism. It did not surprise me that the news of the impending acquisition of the National Bank of Kenya by Acess Bank of Nigeria was a very big story.

This is how the CEO of the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), Paul Russo, put it as he announced the impending acquisition: "Since September, the board has been re-evaluating options for a sustainable resolution for the National Bank. We have cleaned the bank up for the last four years but we have been affected by an event that hit compliance on capital. We have to make a decision to protect capital and secure the effort we have put in in the last four years. I love NBK but I don't believ...