French private equity investor Amethis has received approval from the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) to sell its entire stake in Ramco Plexus, a firm involved in printing and packaging businesses in Kenya.
Amethis has been one of only two owners of Ramco Plexus, and is now selling its entire stake to Ramco Inc., a company incorporated in Mauritius, which has been the co-owner of the Kenyan subsidiary.
The value of the transaction was not disclosed by the regulator.
Amethis invested in Ramco in December 2014. The stake being sold and its value was not disclosed.
The regulator said the approval is premised on the finding that the transaction will not negatively impact competition in the markets the businesses are in nor elicit any negative public interest concerns.
“The transaction results in a change from joint to sole control of the target by the acquirer and, therefore, qualified as a merger,” said CAK in a determination Thursday.
Ramco Plexus operates two businesses in Kenya –Platinum Packaging Limited, which makes polythene products for food and beverage industries and Ramco Printing Works Limited, which offers offset and digital printing and branding services.
Both companies are among the top in the respective industries, with Platinum currently controlling about seven percent of packaging business in the country, and the printing arm controls about 15 percent of the market share, by far the largest player in the industry.
“Based on the foregoing analysis, the proposed transaction is unlikely to lead to a substantial lessening or prevention of competition in the print and packaging markets in Kenya,” CAK said.
Amethis, which is now exiting Ramco, is a private equity firm based in Paris, with offices in Nairobi, Cairo, Abidjan, and Casablanca.
It has so far invested in four Kenyan companies, including retailer Naivas, consumer goods maker Kenafric, and Commercial lender Chase Bank, which collapsed in 2016. With its exit from Ramco, Amethis now has Kenafric as part of its investments.
