CFC Stanbic bank has ruled out partnering with local banks in scouting for deals in capital-intensive infrastructural projects including those in oil and gas exploration.

The financial services group, owned 60 per cent by Africa's largest lender Standard Bank Group of South Africa, said it has enough financial muscle from parent company and its partners including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world's largest lender by assets.

CfC said it was eyeing financing opportunities arising from building of the Sh327 billion Mombasa-Nairobi standard gauge railway, the US$ 654 million (Sh57.42 billion) upgrade of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as well as oil and gas prospecting.

"We are well positioned already, there is no need for us to look for other partners available," chief executive Greg Breckenridge said yesterday in Nairobi."Access to the money is one thing but then there's always technical skills, knowledge, capabilities and proper structuring which we have."

Domestic banks are understood to be mulling a partnership for long term credit facility of at least $1 billion(Sh87.8 billion) to a single investor.

"It's an ongoing discussion within the industry,"said Kenya Bankers Association chairman Joshua Oigara, also the chief executive of Kenya's largest bank KCB, on July 31.

KCB, Oigara said, was looking to grow its lending capacity to a single borrower to $500 million(Sh43.9 billion) from the present $200(Sh17.56 billion) in three years.

Ecobank Kenya, a medium-sized local subsidiary of West African giant of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, also said on February 27 it was looking at forging partnerships with competitors in cutting deals in targeted sectors of energy, agribusiness, manufacturing, telecoms, power generation and infrastructure.