Companies

Centum’s Mworia the top dealmaker in 2015

MWORIA

Centum CEO James Mworia. PHOTO | FILE

Centum chief executive James Mworia closed half a dozen deals this year, making him Kenya’s astute dealmaker of the year.

Mr Mworia saw the NSE-listed investment firm make two exits, relinquish part of its flagship real estate project, float a corporate bond that was oversubscribed, and venture into the world of beer distribution and private education.

In total, Centum was involved in seven major investment deals this year cumulatively worth more than Sh17 billion.

“It was a good year for us. We have an ambitious plan so you should expect more action from us next year,” said Mr Mworia in an interview.

Mworia, 37, is among Kenya’s youngest CEOs of a firm listed on the Nairobi bourse alongside 38-year old Gachao Kiuna, the chief executive of yet another investment company TransCentury.

Centum has a portfolio worth Sh46 billion invested across assets in listed firms, private equity and real estate.

Centum in January announced it had agreed to dispose of its 13.75 per cent stake in UAP to South African investment firm Old Mutual Holdings, booking a gain of Sh2.8 billion from the transaction.

The deal saw Centum earn Sh5.2 billion based on the Sh180 price tag per share at which Old Mutual bought out the other co-investors at UAP including Chris Kirubi, Africinvest, Abraaj and Swedfund.

READ: Centum’s profit jumps to Sh7.9bn on sale of UAP

In February, Centum disclosed it had entered Kenya’s alcohol market with a deal to locally retail Danish premium beer Carlsberg, as a strategy to diversify revenue and gulp a piece of the beer market currently dominated by the East African Breweries Ltd (EABL).

Mr Mworia said the firm was still keen to set up a beer bottling plant to help grow sales and market share from EABL.

“It will happen,” he said yesterday without giving any timelines or the cost of the project. Come April, Centum revealed that a Chinese firm and a Treasury-backed investment firm had bought stakes in its mixed property development project dubbed Two Rivers.

Beijing-based Aviation Industry Corporation of China (Avic) invested $70 million (Sh7 billion) in Two Rivers in return for a 38.9 per cent stake.

READ: China firm invests Sh6.4bn in Centum’s Two Rivers

State-owned investment firm ICDC, which also has a 23 per cent stake in Centum, made a $5 million (Sh462.5 million) equity investment in the project which includes a mall, 177-room three-star hotel, office block and residential apartments.

In June, Centum floated a five-year corporate bond which was oversubscribed by more than a third, reflecting investor confidence in the firm.

Investors offered Centum Sh8.31 billion, 38 per cent more than the Sh6 billion that was initially targeted.

The investment company’s net profit in the six months to June 2015 stood at Sh1.9 billion compared to Sh1.23 billion a year earlier. A month later, Centum was back in the news, announcing plans to set up a chain of high-end schools across Africa.

Centum has tied up with Dubai-based PE firm Investbridge Capital and Lebanon-based education network Sabis and plans to open 15 schools across East Africa in the short-term.

READ: Centum in deal with Dubai firm to build schools

Mr Mworia yesterday said the consortium had already acquired a site in Nairobi where the first school will be set up, estimated to cost between $20 million (Sh2 billion) and $30 million (Sh3 billion).

Centum and Investbridge will manage the schools that will admit learners from kindergarten to high school, while Sabis will supply its proprietary curriculum and textbooks.

Mr Mworia in October led Centum to inject Sh1.2 billion into K-Rep Bank, to defend its 67.54 per cent stake in the tier-three lender it acquired a year ago.

“We will be rebranding the bank in the first quarter of next year,” he said.

Centum, while releasing half year results in November, said it had booked a Sh900 million gain from the sale of its 21.5 per cent stake in AON, a firm which offers insurance broking, risk management and recruitment services.