ARM halts Kitui plant plans to sort out debts, shape up Tanzania unit

Athi River Mining (ARM) has postponed plans to build a new plant in Kitui until it sorts out its debts and shapes up its Tanzanian operations. The firm stated that it would build the plant in Kitui County after it has streamlined operations in Tanzania and paid off some of the company’s dollar-denominated debt. The coverage note said ARM would begin the first phase of its capital expenditure programme in 2017 under which it would spend $150 million (Sh15 billion) on the construction of a grinding and clinker plant [...]

Portland Cement delays release of results by a month

East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has delayed publishing its results for the full year ended June following a significant jump in the value of its property assets after a revaluation. The cement maker, which normally publishes its results in the last week of October, says it will now release its financials by the end of next month as it does a fresh review of its assets value. EAPCC did not elaborate by how much the value of its property assets had increased from the Sh2.2 billion which it reported in the half year to December financials [...]

Tea prices at Mombasa auction fall despite decline in supply

The value of the Kenya tea at the Mombasa auction has started falling after a trend of good performance in the last four auctions that saw the price of the beverage attain a 12-week high. In last week’s auction, the price of the commodity on average declined by Sh15 to trade at Sh303 a kilo from Sh318 it fetched in the previous sale. This year, the price of tea has been firming at the auction compared to last year when it remained at a historic low for the better part of the year, boosting the growers’ earnings [...]

Acorn lands partner after parting ways with Britam

Britam’s short-lived real estate partner Acorn Group is in talks with an unnamed global private equity fund to buy into the property developer barely a week after the two companies parted ways in an out-of-court deal. Acorn Group, in which Britam owned a 25 per cent stake, has revealed that the insurance firm has sold its minority shareholding in the company. The property developer said it had also severed ties with Cytonn [...]

CBK says America stalled JP Morgan entry

JP Morgan Chase entry into Kenya was stalled by a lack of approvals from the American banking sector regulator, Central Bank of Kenya has disclosed. JP Morgan had applied to enter Kenya through a representative office three years ago but has never received full approval. The US banking giant has said it will make a second attempt to set up in the country with an eye on large deals. CBK said it granted the largest bank in United States an approval in principle pending clearance by its home regulator who has, however, not given a go-ahead. JP Morgan was this year ranked the third largest bank in the world [...]