Safaricom eyes SMEs in cash transfer deal for Lipa na M-Pesa with 8 banks

Safaricom has signed a deal with eight more banks to offer retailers real-time money transfer from the Lipa na M-Pesa tills to their banks accounts, a move aimed at recruiting more merchants to the telco’s mobile payment platform. The move mainly targets small and mid-sized businesses — the major users of Lipa na M-Pesa — by boosting their cash flows [...]

PE firm Xterra to invest most of Sh61bn fund in Kenya’s real estate

Private equity firm Xterra Capital Advisors will invest the lion’s share of its upcoming fund in Kenya’s real estate sector. Xterra, which is raising $300 million (Sh30.6 billion) in equity and an equal amount in debt, or a total of Sh61 billion, says that slightly over a third of the money raised will go towards the local property market. The fund will buy rental properties and also finance greenfield developments [...]

Logistics firm Atlas ventures into Ethiopia

Logistics firm Atlas Development has extended its footprint to Ethiopia through a partnership with Orchid Group, an Addis-based infrastructure company. Atlas will focus on bringing Orchid Group’s work up to international standards while the Ethiopian counterpart will source additional business. The logistics company that cross-listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) in 2014 has seen its stock plummet to an all-time low due to a slowdown in activity in the oil and gas sector as exploration companies scale down their operations [...]

Senators take KQ to task over ex-staff access to company data

Senators have sought Kenya Airways management’s explanation on why some of its former staff access the national carrier’s systems months after they had left employment. A KQ internal report expressed concerns that system weaknesses within the company could be linked to revenue leakage leading to the record loss of Sh25.7 billion in the year ended March [...]

Chase Bank to get Sh3bn loan for green energy lending

Chase Bank is set to receive Sh3 billion from French fund AFD for lending to environment friendly energy projects. Several manufacturing and agricultural firms have been setting up their own electricity plants in a bid to avoid losses attributable to power outages and to control their total costs. Chase Bank, which has been recognised as one of the fastest growing lenders in the country, has been relying on long term credit from development finance institutions and capital injection from shareholders to fund the growth [...]

German airline plans more flights to Mombasa

A German leisure airline is set to increase flights to Mombasa early next year following high demand from tourists visiting the Coast for holidays. Following the lift of the travel bans, captain Alfred Kohler said, Condor would now operate direct flights from Frankfurt to Mombasa rather than flying via Zanzibar or Kilimanjaro in Tanzania [...]

Government signs Sh61 billion loan with international financiers
Citi, Standard Bank and Standard Chartered Bank as Bookrunners and Mandated Lead Arrangers (the “Bookrunners”) are pleased to announce the successful signing of a US$600,000,000 Syndicated Medium Term Loan Facility (the “Facility”) for the Government of the Republic of Kenya, acting through the National Treasury of the Republic of Kenya (the “National Treasury”). The Facility is the National Teasury’s second international syndicated loan financing [...]