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NSE suspends trading of Unga shares amid buyout talks

unga

Workers at an Unga plant in Eldoret produce wheat flour. FILE PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA | NMG

Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has suspended trading in the shares of Unga Group Plc #ticker:UNGA whose retail investors have received a buyout offer of Sh40 per share from one of its significant shareholders, Seaboard Corporation.

The Delaware-based multinational, which already owns a 35 per cent stake in the company's operating subsidiaries, is acting in concert with a group of local investors including the wealthy Ndegwa family who hold a controlling 50.93 per cent interest in the company through Victus Limited.

The offer price of Sh40 is a 36.7 per cent premium on Unga’s last trading price of Sh29.25 per share on Wednesday.

Seaboard and Victus intend to delist Unga by the end of the year once it hits its minimum acceptance threshold.

If the offer is accepted by all monitory investors, Seaboard will acquire an additional 46.1 per cent stake, raising its equity to 49 per cent in what will leave it in a joint partnership with Victus.

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