AccessKenya inches closer to delisting from stock market

The process to end AccessKenya’s six-year tenancy on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) took yet another step after shareholders voted in favour of acquisition of their shares by South African firm, Dimension Data.

The shareholders passed the vote Tuesday at an extra general meeting (EGM) called by the company.

AccessKenya Group chairman Daniel Ndonye said the buyout offer had reached the minimum threshold that was required for the firm to be delisted from the NSE.

“We have received more than 75 per cent plus one of acceptances from shareholders as required by the law to delist the company. This means that the board is now free to start to the process of delisting company,” said Mr Ndonye in a statement.

Dimension Data is buying AccessKenya at Sh14 per share, a 42 per cent premium on the last trading price of Sh9.85 on May 7, a day before it was suspended from trading by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), the industry regulator.

The shareholder circular on the buyout deal says that full results on acceptance levels should be made by August 28, which will also determine if Dimension Data will proceed with a compulsory acquisition.

“If the offer is accepted by shareholders of AccessKenya amounting to not less than 90 per cent of the issued ordinary shares of AccessKenya, Dimension Data shall apply the provisions of section 210 of the Companies Act to compulsorily acquire the remaining issued ordinary shares of AccessKenya. Any such acquisition will be made pursuant to the offer at the offer price,” says the shareholder circular.

Mr Ndonye said that if Data Dimension does not manage to reach the 90 per cent threshold, shareholders who remain will become minimum shareholders but face a liquidity risk due to the inability to trade their shares in an organised exchange.

“This means that they’ll not be able to sell their shares on the NSE,” said Mr Ndonye in the statement.

AccessKenya shareholders on the register as at May 7, 2013 will also be entitled to receive a final dividend of Sh0.30 per ordinary share for the year ended December 31, 2012.

The AccessKenya deal comes at a time when yet another NSE-listed firm, ScanGroup, has announced that an offer has been made for acquisition of a majority stake of the company.

WPP, a London-listed communications conglomerate, said that it would increase its shareholding in ScanGroup to a majority stake, though the media-buying firm would remain listed on the NSE.

WPP announced it would increase its shareholding to 50.1 per cent from 31.3 per cent in a deal that will see it acquire 95.7 million shares of ScanGroup in addition to a Sh1.8 billion cash injection.