Kenya’s bourse data first IPO in over a decade

The Kenyan authorities on Monday started promoting a 65% stake within the state-owned Kenya Pipeline Firm, aiming to boost $835 million for infrastructure in what can be its first preliminary public providing (IPO) in over a decade.

The federal government, by way of the Nationwide Treasury, will promote 11.8 billion shares in Kenyan Pipeline, valuing the corporate at KES 163.6 billion ($835 million) in a sale working from January 19 to February 19. The IPO is priced at 9 shillings per share, the supply paperwork confirmed. 

Of the 65% stake on supply, the federal government allotted 20% to retail buyers, 20% to institutional buyers, and 15% to regional East African Group buyers, whereas oil advertising corporations had been put aside 15%.

The sale is a part of President Ruto’s effort to divest from state corporations and lift funds for infrastructure because the nation struggles with mounting debt. The plan follows an analogous choice to dump a part of Treasury’s stake in Safaricom, the area’s most worthwhile firm.

“It’s a choice about capital effectivity moderately than asset disposal,” Nationwide Treasury cupboard secretary John Mbadi stated on the IPO launch. “These corporations are usually not imagined to be stored like souvenirs.

The Kenya Pipeline IPO would be the area’s most important, surpassing Safaricom’s 2008 IPO, which raised KES 50 billion ($387.5 million). The providing might breathe new life into Nairobi’s capital markets and restore confidence amongst each native and overseas buyers.

A profitable Kenya Pipeline IPO might reopen the window for different corporations like fast-growing non-public companies and startups to faucet public markets for long-term capital, serving to reverse a chronic drought in fairness fundraising.

“I’d guess this IPO of Kenya’s Pipeline Firm will carry the nation’s weight in each the MSCI Frontier and Frontier Rising market indexes,” Charlie Robertson, an Africa-focused strategist, posted on X.  “This may increase the visibility of Kenya and allocation of world portfolio buyers to Kenya. Fairness capital is most secure for Kenya.”

In 2025, the corporate reported KES 10 billion ($77.5 million) in pretax revenue, making it one of the worthwhile authorities ventures. The corporate owns 1,342 kilometres of pipeline and transports over 10 billion cubic litres of petroleum merchandise in Kenya and in neighbouring international locations like Uganda.