Sharia firm Kurwitu Ventures third to list on GEMS

Sharia investment firm Kurwitu Ventures will become the third company to list on the GEMS at the Nairobi Securities Exchange this month after Home Afrika and Flame Tree Group.

In a surprise announcement published in the dailies Tuesday, the company said it will list 102,272 shares next week. It did not issue details on pricing.

“Nairobi Securities Exchange has approved the listing of 102,272 ordinary issued shares on the official list of the NSE under GEMS. The listing and commencement of trading in Kurwitu shares at the NSE will be on November 13, 2014,” said the notice.

Efforts to get further information from Kurwitu and the listing’s nominated advisors Standard & Mutual were unsuccessful as directors were said to be out of office.

They had not replied to email queries at the time of going to press. NSE had referred queries on the company to the nominated advisors. But information contained on Kurwitu’s website shows the firm was incorporated in August 2006 to provide investment management services.

“It did not meet the original intentions… the founders decided to inject fresh capital and make it a vehicle of Sharia compliant investments in 2012,” says the website.

Company owners undertook a restructuring of the firm last year to prepare it for listing on NSE, where it intends to focus on attracting Islamic investors to capital markets.

According to the disclosures, Kurwitu’s main focus is the agricultural sector although it says it will also invest in non-agriculture ventures that are Sharia compliant.

Other investment products on offer are asset backed securities, real-estate investment trusts and investment notes.

The NSE launched the GEMS segment in January 2013 to enable small and medium-sized firms to raise capital, while benefiting from increased profile and liquidity. Companies wishing to list on the platform must have at least 100,000 issued shares and a minimum fully paid-up capital of Sh10 million.

They are required to have adequate working capital and solvency and to have been in operation for at least one year. There is no profitability record required.

Flame Tree Group is set to list Thursday by introduction. Flame Tree, makers of Zoe beauty products and Roto tanks, has 190 million issued shares of which it will list 162 million at a price of Sh8 each. The company has recently concluded a private placement that saw it raise Sh194 million representing a subscription rate of 158 per cent.

READ: Zoe and Roto tank firm to list Thursday

Founder Heril Bangera retained an 85 per cent stake in the company following the placement. He will be put under a two-year lock-in, where he cannot take his shareholding below 65 per cent of the company.