Mauritius fund acquires Deloitte allied audit firm

Mauritian fund manager Axis has acquired Kenyan audit firm Livingstone Associates, a local affiliate of one of ‘Big Four’ accounting firms Deloitte Kenya.

The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) approved the acquisition in a Gazette notice dated March 2, indicating it would not negatively affect the competition.

“The Competition Authority of Kenya excludes the proposed acquisition … for the following reasons the merger will not affect competition negatively; and the acquirer had a turnover of Sh169,964,642 for the preceding year, 2018 while the target's was Sh63,393,951,” said CAK Director-General Wang’ombe Kariuki.

“Therefore, the combined turnover of Sh233,358,593 meets the threshold for exclusion as provided in the Merger Threshold Guidelines.”

The Business Daily could not immediately establish the value of the transaction.

The deal underlines the Mauritian fund manager’s bid to firm its grip on the local financial sector.

In 2015, Axis acquired Kenyan stockbroker ApexAfrica Capital for Sh470 million, making it the highest priced takeover of a market intermediary in East Africa.

“Livingstone Associates is a partnership firm established in 1991 … It offers corporate secretarial, registration and trustee services within the East Africa region. We have offices in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kampala, Dar-es-salaam, Addis Ababa, Kigali and soon moving to Burundi,” the firm says on its website.

Mauritian firms have adopted an aggressive expansionist stance in the Kenyan financial sector over the last few years, indicating tightening economic links between Nairobi and the Port Louis.

They have injected more than Sh5 billion in Kenya’s economy.