Exchange rate slide pushes shilling past 95 units mark

The shilling on Tuesday crossed the 95 units to the US dollar level, continuing a losing streak with forex traders predicting a further drop to 98 units to the dollar by end of year. A weaker currency and its effect on inflation are expected to be one of major issues. Kenyans are therefore likely to feel the pinch as the shilling weakens further, with imported household products, fuel and motor vehicles becoming more expensive [...]

NIC Bank buys Sh550m Upper Hill land to build office block

NIC Bank has purchased 1.3 acres of land adjacent to its headquarters in Upper Hill for Sh550 million in preparation for the construction of an office block. The planned building is expected to be largely utilised by the bank for its operations, marking the latest trend where firms are investing billions of shillings in properties for own use and rental income [...]

Helios buys Africa Oil stake after Equity Bank stock sale

Helios Investment Partners, which last month completed selling half its stake in Equity Bank, has taken a 12.4 per cent stake worth Sh9.5 billion ($100 million) in Africa Oil Corporation. Helios said this is its fourth oil and gas company investment, making them one of the most active private equity groups in the African oil and gas sector. The Africa Oil deal could also signal Helios is deploying the Sh100 billion raised in an Africa-focused fund in January—one of the largest amounts ever raised by a PE firm in Africa [...]

TransCentury share hits all-time low after 9.1pc drop

Investment firm TransCentury lost 9.1 per cent of its market value to hit an all-time low yesterday. The share traded at a low of Sh14 slightly over a week after it reported a loss of Sh2.3 billion for the year to December 31, 2014. The loss resulted from the sale of a 34 per cent stake in Rift Valley Railways for Sh3.8 billion. At the listing stage in 2011, the company was priced at Sh50 but has since been on a downward trend [...]

Regulator punishes Kenya Power, Dyer for breach of rules

A number of listed companies and brokers were penalised or reprimanded for breaching licensing rules. The monitoring of the market participants has been made easier by the fact that the CMA is now using an online reporting system and is promptly alerted when a market participant does not take specified actions within a given time frame [...]

Competition, telecoms watchdogs to seek truce over Safaricom

The competition and telecommunications regulators are on Wednesday set to end a supremacy battle on who has powers to monitor the abuse of dominance in the telecoms sector with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU). CAK is the regulatory agency in charge of competition matters in all sectors of the economy while the CA is the telecommunications and broadcast regulator [...]

High Court reinstates Vimal Shah, Nahashon Nyagah as Tatu City directors

Former Central Bank of Kenya governor Nahashon Nyagah and businessman Vimal Shah have been reinstated as directors of property developer Tatu City after the High Court ruled that their ouster was improper [...]

Africa Oil strikes 200 metres of oil raising Lokichar Basin prospects

Africa Oil says Ngamia-8, a well in the Lokichar Basin co-owned with Tullow Oil, has yielded 200 metres of oil improving the prospect of more finds in the region. The drillers of the Ngamia well will now go into further testing to establish, amongst others, the flow of oil per day [...]