KCB issues caution over proposed restructuring
Kenya Commercial Bank Ltd (KCB) directors have urged shareholders and customers to exercise caution when dealing with the bank’s shares. This follows a resolution last week by the bank’s top management to undertake a restructuring which will lead to the establishment of a non-operating holding company for the KCB Group. Subsequently, KCB Ltd’s current banking business in Kenya will be transferred to a new subsidiary by operation of Section 9(3) of the Banking Act […]
Low stock returns at NSE hit pension funds’ 2014 gains
Pension contributors will come face to face with the impact of a relatively poorly performing bourse as fund managers unveil significantly reduced 2014 earnings. Analysts say they expect the three-year bull run may not continue with the same momentum this year and for insurance companies, which are some of the largest investors at the NSE, the slowdown will see them grow more skittish. Fund managers expect more investment in alternative sectors such as private equity which can offer pension contributors a reprieve when the equities are not performing well […]
Gems low trading fails to offer NSE the expected lift
Low liquidity on the Growth and Enterprise Market Segment (Gems) of the NSE has resulted in limited price movement with analysts indicating that the counters are missing out on a price rally. The investors have tended to hold their shares over the longer term and are less likely to participate in speculative trading. Limited free float for these companies has protected them from big price declines but also inhibited price gains […]
Njuguna Ndung’u takes final bow after eight years at helm of CBK
Njuguna Ndung’u will quietly exit the corner office at Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Tuesday having outmaneuvered the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission ( EACC), which wanted him charged over the irregular award of a Sh1.2 billion security system tender. The professor of economics will be remembered as a boardroom warrior who weathered several storms from Parliament, those he regulated and even in courts through intense behind the scenes lobbying […]
SA private equity firm Phatisa to build Sh1.8bn studio apartments
A South African private equity (PE) firm that recently acquired stake in Kenya’s General Plastics will develop Sh1.8 billion studio apartments behind Galleria Shopping Mall in Karen, Nairobi, marking its third real estate deal in the country. The project will be a joint venture between Phatisa and Africa Reit Ltd, a Nairobi-based property development company […]
Centum selling stocks to fund power, real estate deals
Kenya’s Centum Investment is working on selling its stakes in several firms to fund new investments in power plants, real estate and other areas, its chief executive said. James Mworia, the Centum CEO, indicated that the firm’s market value has jumped seven-fold over the last five years to Sh40 billion ($438 million), and was now targeting new investments that would maintain growth momentum […]
Karuturi fights off Indian bank’s bid to sell Sh8bn land
Troubled flower firm Karuturi Limited has moved to court to fight off fresh attempts by Mumbai-based ICICI Bank to sell off six parcels of its land in Naivasha valued at Sh8.1 billion ($90.9 million). The land was used to secure a loan between 2010 and 2011. ICICI extended a foreign currency term loan of Sh3.6 billion ($40 million) to Karuturi in two tranches between 2010 and 2011, alongside a working capital demand loan of $11 million (Sh990 million). The flower firm is fighting two other suits filed by CfC Stanbic over an unpaid loan and another by one of its suppliers, All Pack Industries […]