No editorial checks on this article yet

This article is not approvedThe content of this article is not verified by the editorial team of Africanews.com. Read our editorial requirements to see the criteria we use to decide if we publish an article on the homepage of Africanews.

Possible Safaricom sale heightens NSE prospects

  1. Posted on Monday 5 February 2007 - 10:49
    Elly Wamari
    Image of Elly Wamari

    1 December 2006, by Elly Wamari in Nairobi. Anxiety awaits the sale of shares to the public, of East Africa's most profitable company. Kenya's Safaricom, a mobile telephone service provider jointly owned by Vodafone Plc (UK) and Telkom Kenya Ltd (a quasi-government telephone company), is likely to cause a major shift at the already busy Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) after plans to list it there are finalized.
    A decision to float a percentage of the company's shares is expected before end of the year. Hopefully, trading then begins within the first few months of next year. With a pre-tax profit of Sh 12.2 billion (US$ 172 million), Safaricom will be a major attraction for the public as well as strategic investors. Its shares are awaited with bated breath. Accordingly, prospects are high for a sustained burst of trade in shares. Since March, when the government released 30 percent of its shares in Kenya Electricity Generating Componay (Kengen) to the public, the NSE has been a heightened centre of activity.
    Kengen's successful Initial Public Offer (IPO) of shares generated a sudden public interest in shares. It's subsequent listing at the stock exchange widened the gates for more IPOs by several other companies. Scangroup, a media services company followed Kengen's IPO and offered 69 million shares in July. Kengen had offered about 659 million shares.
    On August 7, Equity Bank Ltd became the next company after Scangroup to get listed at the bourse. And presently, winding queues at stock brokerage firms mark the application for the 63 million shares being offered by Eveready East Africa Ltd, A Kenyan-based battery manufacture. It is this tempo that has culminated in calls and discussions to float Safaricom shares. The government is also expected to sell about 30 percent of its shareholding of the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) by April next year. The magnitude of trade that KPA handles along Kenya's coastline is likely to catch the eye of major investors and the general public.
    Click here to visit Elly Wamari's weblogpage.

Latest News

  1. OPINION: Welcome to African Green Revolution24/05For the past century and a half, Africa has tried various agricultural approaches without much success.
  2. Egyptians vote in historic election23/05Egyptians began voting freely on Wednesday for the first time to pick their president in a wide open election that pits Islamists against men who serv…
  3. Africa Day 2012 - a moment for reflection and…22/0525th May is Africa Day. For many years it has been a celebration of African unity. It dates back to 1963 when the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) …
  4. South Africa's African agenda21/05The Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, Kgalema Mothlanthe paid a rare visit to Ghana in April at the invitation of John Dramani Mahama …
  5. Women struggle to rinse hunger, poverty stains21/05Just looking at her one clearly appreciates that she is old and frail therefore in need of support for food, clothing and shelter to live comfortably …
  6. Climate Climate change affects migratory birds…21/05Changes in the climate globally have affected the movement of both migratory and resident species of birds, Nature Uganda has said.
  7. Ghana: Foreign retailers cited for currency…18/05The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) is attributing the sharp depreciation of the Ghana cedi against major currencies to the illegal activiti…
  8. Kenya: Community radio brings succour to…18/05Korogocho, a slum in northeastern Nairobi with 100,000 inhabitants, had many of the ingredients for a political explosion similar to those that rocked…
  9. Veld fires 'flame' Zimbabwe's…16/05Over the years, Zimbabwe has experienced the scourge of veld fires destroying property worth thousands of dollars.
  10. Liberia commends ECOWAS for support14/05The induction training of pioneer Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Volunteers for Liberia kicked off in Monrovia, with the Deputy Mi…
  11. Vanishing Lake Chad puts 30m lives at risk14/05As you approach the Lake Chad basin from Maiduguri, in north-eastern Nigeria, the evidence of despair is telling.
  12. Heavy rains cause havoc in Kenya14/05Heavy Rainfall continued to wreak havoc across the country leading to the suspension of relief food in some parts of the country as most roads in Turk…
  13. Zimbabwe: Growth points lie dormant14/05The Zimbabwean government mooted the concept of growth points in the 1980s as a means of decongesting cities and towns.
  14. Sierra Leone improves in infant mortality11/05Sierra Leone has improved in infant mortality cases according to Save the Children- World Motherhood index 2012 report. The West Africa country descri…
  15. Zimbabwe: Resettled farmers fail to utilize…10/05Resettled farmers in Zimbabwe are failing to utilize land due to inadequate farming inputs and lack of resources.
News archive