Monthly Archives: April 2013

Private Equity Moment

Following the January  post on M&A deals, here are some recent events.
The Private Equity Confidence Survey was published by Africa Assets and Deloitte and it showed that, in 2012, private equity firms invested $1.13 billion towards 58 deals in Sub-Saharan Africa. This was a a slight decline from 2011, and that Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa accounted for 45% of the deals in 2012.  Also in the survey;
– Despite the enormous hype surrounding Kenya’s growing IT sector, dubbed the “Silicon Savannah”, no IT or venture capital deals were reported in eastern Africa in 2012. This clearly reflects that both the IT sector and VC industry in eastern Africa, and indeed Africa more broadly, remain quite young and underdeveloped. Interestingly, IT-Tech deals were done in 2012 in South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria and the DRC.
–  One conference speaker on VC deal structuring said the problem is ‘Kenyan entrepreneurs believe they each have a fantastic proprietary idea, and they want lots of money up front to develop it, regardless of the lack of business model planning done by many of them. 
– The dominant exit route across Africa is a sale to a strategic investor..and most investors expect the average investment lifecycle to be between two to five years.
Recent M&A deals approved by the Kenya Competition Authority include:
Agri-Business & Food
– The acquisition by Almasi Beverages of Kisii Bottlers, Rift Valley Bottlers and Mount Kenya Bottlers
– The acquisition of Lord Erroll Limited by Koita International Kenya. EDIT – The Business Daily in August 2014 wrote on the Lord Erroll buyout
– The acquisition of Ocean Agriculture (EA) by JH Verwiel.
– The acquisition of Siret Tea Company by Siret Outgrowers Empowerment & Produce Company.
– The acquisition by the Rai Family of shares of Sukari Industries.
Banking, Insurance & Finance
– The acquisition of I&M Bank by City Trust Limited.
– The acquisition of PSJ & Associates by PKF Kenya.
– The acquisition of 66.66% of Mercantile Insurance by Colina Holdings
Building, Energy & Real Estate
– The acquisition of shares in Cemtech (who were to put up a cement factory in Pokot) by Rock Field Corporation.
– The acquisition of Economic Housing by Mali Rasili Group.
– The acquisition of all assets of Mutonga Mutuandaju Small Hydro Power  (a hydro-power project in South Imenti, Meru) by Intrepid Energy.
Health & Beauty
– The purchase of shares in Alexander Forbes Healthcare by Zanele Investments Holding Company
– The acquisition of the health and beauty business (cosmetic & hair brands) of Interconsumer Products by L’Oreal East Africa
– The acquisition of certain assets & liabilities of RTT Health Services by Imperial Group
– The acquisition of Lyntons Pharmacy by Luwada Management
– The acquisition of Star Biotech Lab & Diagnostics (a pathology lab) by Metropolis Health Healthcare
– The acquisition of an indirect interest in the assets of Strategic Industries Limited.
Media & Communications
– The acquisition of Alldean Networks Limited by ISAT Africa Limited FZC and Richard W. Bell.
– The acquisition by EMC Acquisition, LLC and Emerging Markets Communication, LLC of EMC, LLC.
– The acquisition of shares in Dodhia Packaging Limited by Corpak Africa and Corpark Kenya
– The acquisition of  the investment in Rodwell Press held in Interlabels Africa by Interlabels Industries Private Limited.
Oil & Mining 
– The acquisition of Aviva Mining Kenya by Africa Barrick Gold (from Aviva Corporation)
– The acquisition of 87.25% of Pacific Seaboard Investments Limited by Tardigrade International Inc.
Tourism
– The acquisition of East Africa Safari Ventures by Natural Habitat Safaris.
– The acquisition of 80% of Nairobi Tented Camp  by Porini Limited.
– The acquisition of Leleshwa Safari Company  by Natural Habitat Safaris
– The acquisition of Vittoria Limited and subscription of shares in Olarro Conservancy Limited by Arabian Ranchers Property Investments
Transport, Engineering & Logistics 
– The acquisition Swift Global Logistics by DSV Air & Sea Holdings
– The purchase of 55% of Tradewinds Aviation by NAS Africa Aviation
– The acquisition of 60% of Treadsetters Tyres by Bharat Doshi, Aashit Shah and Carlet Overseas Corporation.
– The acquisition of 40% of Tredcore Kenya by Magister Limited
– The acquisition of Vtechnologies (Kenya) Limited by UHT SAS.
EDIT
More deals approves in May 2013
– The acquisition of the remaining shares in Cable Television Network by Wananchi Group
– The acquisition of 99% of Microensure Advisory Services by Microensure Holdings
– The acquisition of Brightermonday.com by Cheki Africa Media.

– The acquisition of 1,680 steers and 792 cows from Delamere Estates by Ngombe Ltd 
– The acquisition of 80% of Altech Kenya Data Networks and 100% of Altech Swift Global Limited by Liquid Telecommunications Holdings
–  The acquisition of the business of Daru Shifa Centre by Viva Afya
– The acquisition of Endebess Estates (Kilifi Holdings)  by Ballobhai Chhotabhai Patel.
 
Other recent deals in the News
– Jacana Partners and InReturn Capital announced a merger, and plans for a $75 million SME Fund
– 88mph and the eVentures Africa (eVA) Fund announced a partnership to improve investment opportunities
– Does Tuskys Supermarket want to buy Ukwala  a rival supermarket chain?
– 90% of I&M Bank shareholders have accepted the takeover by City Trust Ltd and the deal makers have been granted a 2 week extension to reach out to the remaining shareholders. Next steps include a share split.  mandatory acquision of the balance of shares, and a possible NSE-listing on June 12.
–  Airtel signed an agreement to fully acquire Warid Uganda – the combined entity will remain the number two carrier in Uganda with 7.4 million customers  and a market share of 39%.
– Fastjet and the CEO of Fly540 agreed to cease their court battles and work towards an acquisition of Fly540  – freeing FastJet to commence Kenyan operations.
– A summary of China investments around the world in the year 2011.
–  In the US, M&A of VC-backed startups are at a four year low.
–  Venture capital merger and acquisition activity in the US dropped in the first quarter of this year, ending with the fewest exits since the first quarter of 2009, according to the just-released venture report from Dow Jones VentureSource.
– Some 86 M&A transactions were done for a total amount of $4.3 billion, down 44% in deal activity and a decline of 24% in capital. In the final three months of last year, 113 deals brought in $7.6 billion to the VC-backed startups.
– Companies raised $6.36 billion in the first quarter of 2013, the lowest amount raised since the third quarter of 2010, when $6.1 billion was raised. In the first three months of the year, 752 companies were funded, which is similar to the 732 companies that got funded just over two years ago. Healthcare deals accounted for almost a third of the invested capital.

EDIT Jambo Biscuits food processing business is being transferred Kilimanjaro Foods.

Mobile & Card Payments across East Africa

A new unsecured card solution was launched by afb last week that will allow customers to instantly spread the cost of their purchase at participating shops into affordable 6-month repayments. afb have signed up 52 merchants like Baus Optical, Cambridge Opticians, Fabguru Shoes, Kitengela Glass, and local supermarkets (Tumaini, Home Depot, Homemade) and are also signing up other merchant shops where consumers will be able to apply for cards and get them approved & issued in the stores ahead of making a purchase.  afb settles the transaction amounts directly into the retailer’s bank account, and the customer makes repayments via M-Pesa. afb next hope to venture into loans and insurance in Kenya.

How large is the card market? A Central Bank of Kenya reports showed that there were 9 million debit cards and 140, 000 credit cards in use in Kenya in 2012.

In terms of mobile money, CBK data showed that 21 million Kenyans moved Kshs. 141 billion ($1.65 billion) via 53 million mobile money transactions during February 2013.

CBK has also come up with new mobile money rules that target money laundering. They require that operators link different accounts opened by a user with a single ID card, flag accounts that move more than Kshs. 100,000 (~$1,175) per day or 300,000 (~$3,530) per week, have audit trails, institute systems to handle customer complaints and retain transaction data for 7 years. 

KCB and Western Union who have an account-based money transfer service (ABMT) in Kenya will extend it across East Africa this week, enabling KCB customers to receive money from Western Union directly into their accounts.

Kenya Airways has a 1.5% fee on all credit card transactions (owing to high processing bank charges).

Following a spate of fraud incidents last December, the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) has launched an ATM safety campaign dubbed “Be Alert” or “Kaa Chonjo” which include tips such as cover the PIN’s with their hands (at ATM’s), and not sharing PIN numbers with anyone (including spouses). 

KBA also announced the shift by Kenyan banks to the new Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) technology to ensure better security of cards.

90% of KenyaPower pre-paid electricity tokens are now purchased using #Mpesa – according to a Safaricom Business ad.

Diners can now pay restaurant bills via M-Pesa under a new partnership between Kopo Kopo, Eat Out and Safaricom. Restaurants accept payments at 1.5% per transaction.

MasterCard and Equity Bank introduced PayPass enabled debit cards in 5 African markets which will enable merchants to receive payments via low-cost add-ons linked to applications on their mobile devices (such as a smartphone or tablet) 

Mastercard and I&M Bank launched a multi–currency (Dollars, Pounds, Euros) prepaid card which enables users to load up to $10,000 and make foreign currency purchases without incurring exchange rate or other charges.

MasterCard also released a study called the MasterCard African Cities Growth Index that showed that Accra, Lusaka and Luanda offer the highest growth potential in Sub-Saharan Africa. Other ranked cities included Dar es Salaam (4), Addis Ababa (5), Nairobi (6), Kampala (7), Johannesburg  (8), Cape Town (11), Mombasa (12), Lagos (13),  and Khartoum (19).

Credit reference bureaus like CRB Africa and Metropol are expanding across East Africa.

The inaugural Mobile Money Africa Awards will be held in Johannesburg next month, to award the best mobile money app, mobile banking service, and mobile money platform for Africa, among others.  

Nation Hela launched last year has 8,000 active cards in use.

With PesaPal, Kenyans in the Diaspora can send school fees payments directly to 12,000 schools in Kenya using their credit cards (no need for money transfer service). 

Shell Kenya have a visa card promotion to encourage motorists to swipe their cards and pay for fuel The platform is powered by Equity Bank POS at all Shell stations, and station owners are not charged commissions for card sales (Shell pays all commissions).

Tangaza321 is said to be the second largest mover of mobile money behind M-Pesa. The Tangaza system uses biometric data (fingerprints) as many customers don’t possess national ID cards and allows them to send money across all networks, even to people who don’t have mobile phones.
A team with the University of Nairobi’s University Students Community Organization (Uniscoo)  has developed a prepaid card for university students. Uniscoo which has 25,000 students seeks to encourage good money management among students through the use of the prepaid card powered by MasterCard.

Urban Inflation Index: March 2013

Gift from Uganda during the Kenya Supreme Court hearings
March 2013 saw the highly anticipated Kenya general election. There was a lot of uncertainty in the country, and beyond on what  impact it would have on the regional economies.

There were some familiar and ominous signs. The heavy investment the government had made in electronic vote systems failed, and it was a close race with a disputed result. However, unlike in 2008, the dispute was settled in the Kenya Supreme Court, and not in the streets. 

Ahead of all this, some Nairobians engaged in some extra shopping or stocking up which some called it panic shopping – but this was actually as prudent as shopping ahead of an approaching hurricane or storm, which may veer off at the last minute.
On to the index that compares prices to 3 months ago and a year ago.

Gotten Cheaper

N/A

About the Same


Staple Food: A 2kg pack of (Unga) Maize flour, which is used to make Ugali that is eaten by a majority of Kenyans daily, costs Kshs. 105, which is down from 107 in December, but up from 97 a year ago

Other food item: A 2 kg. pack of Mumias sugar pack is Kshs 250, same as three months ago. It was 245 a year ago.

Communications: Telephone call and data rates are largely unchanged, and there have been few new mobile promotions,  with some items offered free like access to Facebook (Yu), Wikipedia (Orange), money transfer (airtel).

Fuel: Petrol prices in March were Kshs 117.6 per litre (~$6.12 per gallon) slightly higher compared to Kshs. 111.6 per litre a year ago and 112.6  last December.

Utilities/Electricity:  A pre-paid token purchase of Kshs. 500 purchase from the Kenya Power & Lighting Company (KPLC) gets about  33 units, compared to 31 a year ago. However the units are only a fraction of the bill with 4/5 of that Kshs. 500 payment going to pay for power generation debts, forex & fuel charges and even inflation. It’s odd that even as heavy rains cause floods around the country, and presumably fill hydro dams,  KPLC still procures private thermal power and bills consumers for the costs.

Foreign Exchange: 1 US$ equals Kshs. 85.63 compared to Kshs. 86 three months ago and Kshs. 83 a year ago. The shilling did not dip much ahead of the election as many had expected.

More Expensive

 
Beer/Entertainment: A bottle of Tusker beer is Kshs 200 ($2.35) (at a local pub) up  from Kshs 180 where it has been for quite a while. The price increase was driven by local brew giant  East African Breweries that’s got some debt issues.

Hilton, Intercontinental, KWAL Privatizations

Privatizations to be concluded by the Kenya Government by June 2013 include: 

  • The Industrial & Development Corporation (ICDC) will sell 26% of Kenya Wine Agencies Limited (KWAL) to Distell of South Africa and 4% to employees.
  • The Kenya Tourist Development Corporation (KTDC) will sell 40% of the 287-room Hilton Hotel, 34% of 389-room Intercontinental Hotel (both in Nairobi) and 39% of Mountain Lodge which is located in Nyeri and managed by TPS Serena, to fellow shareholders.
No IPO’s will result, but the remaining shares in KWAL may be sold to the public within two to four years if their performance improves.  

Kenya Bank Rankings 2012 Part I

Ranked by assets (Placing in 2011)                   
1 (1) KCB [assets of Kshs 304.1 billion ($3.58 billion), profits of Kshs 15.75  billion ($185 million)]
2 (2) Equity 
3 (3) Cooperative 
4 (5) Standard Chartered    
5 (4) Barclays  
6 (6) CFC Stanbic 
7 (11) NIC     
8 (7) Commercial Bank of Africa
9 (8) Diamond Trust     
10 (9) I&M [assets of Kshs. 91.5 billion ($1.07 billion), profits of  Kshs 4.72 billion ($55.5 million)]
11 (10) Citibank 
12 (12) National Bank
13 (15) Chase    
14 (13) Bank of Africa    
15 (14) Baroda   
16 (16) Prime    
17 (17) Housing Finance    
18 (19) Imperial    
19 (18) Ecobank     
20 (21) Family Bank  
21 (20) India   
22 ABC    
23 Consolidated Bank     
24 Fina   
25 Equatorial   
26 Gulf African    
27 Development Bank   
28 Giro    
29 Fidelity   
30 Guardian     
31 Victoria    
32 First Community     
33 K-Rep    
34 Habib AG Zurich  
35 Transnational     
36 Paramount     
27 Habib Bank     
38 Credit Bank     
39 Oriental     
40 Middle East     
41 Jamii Bora    
42 UBA     
43 Dubai [assets of Kshs 2.58 billion ($30.4 million)]