PwC to advise KenGen on new public share sale

Retail investors took up Sh4.4 billion with local and foreign institutional investors taking the rest.

Mr Kitungu said an evaluation process to pick the advisor on the planned sale of cement maker East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) was ongoing.

“We hope to come up with an advisor on the sale of EAPCC once we are done with the evaluation,” he said.

Twelve consortia had expressed interest in offering transaction advisory services on the planned sale of EAPCC.

The Government has a 52.3 per cent interest in the Athi River based cement-making firm, which includes a 25.3 per cent direct shareholding and 27 per cent stake held by the State-controlled National Social Security Fund (NSSF).

EAPCC and KenGen were marked as the first two parastatals to be offloaded by the Government in the ended financial year, even as the State worked on another plan that would see 24 others also placed in private hands.

Ended evenly

But even as PwC bagged the KenGen deal, a review of recently concluded advisory jobs on the planned sale of key public institutions showed that the battle between investment bankers and audit firms ended evenly.

For instance, records showed that Standard Investment Bank bagged deals to advise on the planned sale of New Kenya Co-operative Creameries and Kenya Wine Agency Limited (Kwal).

Another investment bank, Dyer and Blair, won a contract to advise on the planned sale of State hotels such as Kabarnet, Golf and Sunset Hotels, Mt Elgon Lodge, Kenya Safari Lodge, and those under Kenya Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) such as International Hotels, Kenya Hotels, and Mountain Lodge.

Audit firm, Ernst and Young, bagged a deal to advise on the planned sale of five public millers including Nzoia, Sony, Chemelil, Miwani and Muhoroni.

Though the government in February unveiled strategies to exit from the five sugar firms by ceding some stakes to strategic investors, it’s yet to invite bids.