Barclays Africa buys stake in First Assurance for Sh2.9bn

Johannesburg-based Barclays Africa is set to acquire a controlling stake in Kenya’s First Assurance for Sh2.9 billion in a transaction that opens the door for the bank’s Kenyan subsidiary to gain a foothold in the insurance market.Barclays Africa on Wednesday announced that it is buying a 63.3 per cent stake in the insurance firm and will pay Sh2.2 billion to First Assurance shareholders besides injecting an additional Sh700 million as capital to grow the business [...]

Sh3,000 is all you need to buy T-bills by mobile from July

CBK is finishing implementing the Treasury Mobile Direct (TMD), a system enabling the public to trade in government securities, including through mobile phones.The system will enable more retail investors to access government fixed income securities at their convenience and is proposed to have a minimum investment denomination of Sh3,000[...]

Mauritian PE in Sh9.7bn real-estate deal with Kenyan firms

Real-estate developer AMS Properties and property marketing firm Hass Consult will team up with a Mauritian private equity firm to develop properties worth Sh9.7 billion in the region.Xterra Capital Advisors has signed an agreement with the two firms to raise $100 million.Xterra Capital said the development firms would in addition be given preference shares in the fund management company [...]

Microfinanciers outpace big banks in asset base growth

Microfinance banks (MFBs) grew their asset base by 38 per cent in 2014, outpacing the growth recorded by commercial banks over the same period amidst tough competition.Microfinance banks grew total assets from Sh41.4 billion in December 2013 to Sh56.9 billion in December 2014, while commercial banks grew 18 per cent from Sh2.7 trillion to Sh3.1 trillion over the period [...]

End of an era as Access Kenya MD Somen steps down

Access Kenya managing director Jonathan Somen is set to relinquish his position in the next three months.MrSomen is a founding member of the IT company which briefly listed at the NSE before being bought out by a South African group.Dimension Data, the South African group that now owns AccessKenya, has tapped Richard Hechle as the new group managing director. MrSomen will remain on the board as a non-executive director [...]

Roads board opposes RVR’s Sh1.3bn fuel levy claim

The Kenya Roads Board (KRB) has countered a billion-shilling fuel levy refund claim by Rift Valley Railways (RVR) by arguing that the tax is not exclusive to road users.The State roads agency is listed as an interested party in a case where RVR is seeking a refund of Sh1.3 billion it claims to have illegally paid to the government through the Road Maintenance Levy Fund since 2011 [...]

TreeTop juice makes comeback, hoping to ride on 80s success

The once popular ready-to-drink juice TreeTop is set to make a comeback in supermarket shelves with the opening of a production plant for the beverage in Juja. Sky Foods acquired the TreeTop juice brand from Unilever Kenya about three years ago. The firm expects to achieve an annual production of 12 million litres[...]