Coffee price improves as trading resumes at Nairobi Coffee Exchange

The Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) resumed operations last week from a one-month recess with the price of the beverage registering a slight improvement from the last sale.A 50-kilogramme bag of coffee fetched Sh15,000 compared to the previous price of Sh14,657.The NCE closed last month as the main crop season came to an end, resulting in low quality berries that could not fetch good money for the growers…[...]

Indian bank loses Karuturi takeover bid in loan dispute

The High Court last week ruled that the hiring of receiver manager by India’s ICICI Bank over Sh4bn debt malicious.The High Court has stopped India’s ICICI Bank from taking over management of Naivasha-based flower farm Karuturi over a multibillion-shilling loan repayment dispute.Justice Francis Gikonyo last week ruled that ICICI’s appointment of a receiver manager to run Karuturi was malicious, as the bank was the first to breach the loan contract…[...]

Investment banks earn Sh15bn in advisory fees

Investment bankers and other transaction advisers in Africa made Sh15.8 billion in fees due to an increase in the number of deals in the first half of the year.Data from Thomson Reuters/Freeman Consulting shows that advisory fees rose by 10 per cent during the period from Sh14.3 billion ($140.63 million) earned in the first half of 2014.Thomson Reuters managing director for Africa Sneha Shah said that the growth in fees was due to an increase in debt, equity issues, loan syndication, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A)…[...]

Bonds good investment choice for the risk averse

If you have extra money at your disposal for investment, make sure you do not put all your eggs in one basket. In the prevailing uncertain economic circumstances, making diversified investments is a need so that losses in one investment can be made up for by gains in another. Stocks, gold, real estate, mutual funds, fixed deposits in banks and bonds are some of the most popular forms of investment today. Some of these can be highly risky, such as stocks, while bonds promise safety and a fixed regular income. Besides being less volatile than stocks, bond investors are guaranteed a fixed rate of interest at a stipulated time…[...]

NSE ushers in new trading order for fixed income investments

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has amended its Fixed Income Securities (FIS) Trading Rules. This follows a formal approval from market regulator, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA). The FIS Trading Rules cover how NSE market intermediaries access the Automated Trading System (ATS) of the exchange. They also detail the obligations of NSE market intermediaries including their order management of trades in FIS executed on the same platform…[...]

Emergence of 'ghost' farmers delays Mumias Sh500m debt payment plan

Cane farmers who supplied their cane to Mumias Sugar Company will have to wait for the company to weed out ‘ghost’ farmers who have infiltrated the payment list before getting their proceeds. The situation has forced audit firm, KPMG and officers from the company to scrutinise farmers’ list by making physical verification of their plots to establish if they supplied Mumias with cane. The exercise is meant to save the company from losing money to ‘fake’ farmers…[...]