Nairobi, Aug. 19 -- More than 64,000 minority shareholders of Absa Kenya snubbed an offer from the lender's top shareholder to buy part of their shares, scuttling the bid by the South African parent to increase its stake to as much as 85 percent.

Absa Group says it bought 189.38 million shares from the bank's minority shareholders from the 895.9 million stocks the multinational had offered to purchase, representing a 21.1 percent subscription.

It got the shares, equivalent to a 3.49 percent stake in Absa Kenya, from 2,045 shareholders out of the 66,771 minority investors in the Kenyan bank.

Absa Group, which held around 68.5 percent of Absa Bank Kenya, offered Sh34.50 per share to buy stocks from minority investors in a transaction tha...