KENYA – Kenyan specialty dairy company Bio Food Products, mulls becoming a publicly traded company through listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
According to reports by Citizen Digital, the move will break a listing drought with NSE’s last initial public offer (IPO) coming in October 2015 when Stanlib Fahari real estate investment trust (REIT) listed.
The bourse last listing by introduction came in December 2020 when Homeboyz Entertainment Plc floated 63.2 million shares.
“For Bio, the CEO has promised to initiate the process and are exploring a listing but are yet to decide on which way to go,” said NSE CEO Geoffrey Odundo.
Bio Food Products is a dairy company which has been pioneering new concepts in product development and packaging within the East African and the Sub-Saharan Region.
In a bid to increase the number of listed companies on NSE and jump-start bullish trading, the government of Kenya plans to privatize between six to ten government-owned firms in the next twelve months.
President William Ruto instructed the relevant parties to commence the review of the Privatization Act with a view to repealing it and replacing it with a more facilitative framework that will accelerate the privatizations, reports Capital Business.
“The government is embarking on reviewing the Privatisation Act to create a legal framework that will ease the structure of listing for companies,” he said.
Ruto spoke at the launch of the NSE Market Place in Nairobi, noting that the government will support companies looking to be listed on the stock market.
The pronouncement is aimed at attracting more investors into the bourse that has seen little or no major investments over the recent years.
Through the program, NSE aims to communicate investment opportunities to the world & attract fresh foreign direct investments into the country.
The Head of State also encouraged the private sector companies to work together with the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and the NSE to list.
“For those that are reluctant to list because of issues around tax, we will work together with them to deal with any impediments,” said Ruto.
Ruto said he looks forward to having as many Kenyans trading on the NSE and being able to generate wealth for themselves courtesy of the stock exchange.
NSE Board Chair, Kiprono Kittony welcomed the move to privatize state-owned firms saying it would boost listings at the bourse.
“Public sector and state-owned listings have driven up other markets and we hope that we can realize the same here at NSE,” said Kittony.
The Government has also commenced the process of developing the Nairobi Financial District, the newest financial centre.
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