Monthly Archives: April 2007

HFCK rights issue

Housing Finance shareholders are expected to raise the Bank’s share capital from 575 million to 1.18 billion shillings ($16.8 million) by the creation of 120.75 million new shares or one new share for each existing share held. About 5% of the shares are reserved for the company’s employees leaving 115 million shares to be added to the company’s listing on the NSE.

HFCK and S&L (owned by KCB) are still a major player in the mortgages sector which is becoming a crowded field with new entrants Stanbic, Standard Chartered, and next to be joined by cash rich Equity Bank.

Net blamed for stock speculation

The internet (be it forums or blogs) is being blamed for rumours that drove up the price of Sameer Africa shares to 40 shillings before it again dropped to half it’s take off price.

But Sameer never confirmed, denied or commented on the rumors until now.

But would you buy shares because a stranger wrote something to a blog, or chat room? And it seems far fetched that the readers of Kenyan blogs and chat rooms have enough weight & financial muscle to drive up a share price so drastically. I’m inclined to place blame with others, perhaps brokers, who simply used the ‘internet’ as an extra forum to play around with the share price of Sameer Africa (and who probably cashed out at 40 shillings).

Last Laugh

Was the MC of a company AGM over the weekend and felt quite good about my performance until I attended a birthday party the same afternoon and found out that the clown there (hired to entertain kids) made more money than I did for my act :-<

Knocking on bankings’ door

Family Bank: Family Finance will be the next bank licensed in Kenya within the next month as the building society will covert into Family Bank. Some have called the fast rising institution and Equity clone with better stripes but it will fit in as the 22nd largest of Kenya’s Banks.

Gulf African: Also in the running in 2007 is Gulf African Bank which is backed by a consortium of Middle East financial institutions.

MEGA bank: Interesting read here on the challenges and plans of the proposed MEGA bank.

mega bank # 2
CFC’s share price has stabilized after the initial confirmation of talks with Stanbic. It has since steadily risen as proper analysis of the proposal merger has been taking place.

mega bank # 3
Will criticism by the SA Central bank governor scuttle part two of the Barclays Absa deal?

mega bank # 4
Is Nakumatt a Bank? It follows in the path of Wal-Mart but has not indicated any such leanings. However an organization that takes in over 70 million shillings a day ($1 million) and doesn’t have to pay its creditors for 30 days has to be a major player in the banking and investment world.

edit
Ecobank here soon too.

finally a non banking story but a major corporate headache as Ribena (remember mothers who care trust Ribena? ) may not all that it advertises itself to be!

Motoring moment: low tech cars

It took three stories to make up this post.

First was this story that appeared in the Standard last week about a range rover limousine that got messed up by a pothole. Then there was one where TV talk show host and car aficionado Jay Leno bragged about being the only celebrity who can drive a manual transmission SLR Mercedes. And finally this piece from the wall street journal which chronicles how frustrated new car owners are with their high-tech machines

Which brings up the question, how much it too much technology for cars? With my budget, I can only to drive a car that Wanjala, my mechanic, can fix at his garage and one whose parts are relatively available and affordable.

Yet Kenyans have been buying top of the range cars at an astonishing rate, some without local parts or technical support. And some of the cars are loaded with such gizmos and that make even their owners confused. How many times have you ridden in a car where the owner does not know what half the dashboard gizmos do? There are all wheel drive cars that never leave the city, tiptronic gears that are never used, cars that lock their owner out or in depending on their perception of insecurity, cars that are supposed to avoid collision and others that are supposed to park themselves.

Sometimes they break down in strange and sad ways – from cars with blown turbochargers that cause them to crawl or new cars that you see parked at the back of a garage as they await arrival of some obscure engine part or maybe it’s because the dealer’s electronic diagnostic kit has not discovered what bug is ailing the engine.

Other motoring moments:
– a VIP accident
– arrival of the Chrysler 300

Enough about cars

April 13 Jobs

most from the daily papers this week

Academy for educational development: finance manager, finance assistant, administration manager. Apply to regionaloffice@aed.org by 27/4

Investment analyst at British American asset managers. Apply to BAAMHR@baam.co.ke by 27/4

Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. Project manager and a regional director,both in Nairobi. D/L is 30/4

Financial information systems manager at Equity bank. Apply to jobs@equitybank.co.ke by 27/4

Operations officer (Nairobi) at the IFC growth oriented women entrepreneurs (GOWE Kenya) program. D/L is 27/4

Human resource manager at Innscor Kenya apply to recruit@innscorkenya.co.ke by 27/4

Management trainees at KCB. Apply online by 27/4

Kenya national commission on human rights: principal human rights officer – research policy & legislation program, principal human rights officer – campaign & advocacy program, principal human rights officer – complaints & investigation program. Apply to the commission secretary 74359-00200 by 30/7

Magadi soda: senior buyer, product development manager. Apply to recruit@magadisoda.co.ke by 27/4

Microsoft: infrastructure consultant, corporate account manager, partner account manager. Apply to wecajobs@microsoft.com

Safaricom: Senior internal auditor, senior information systems auditor, and senior information security officer. Deadline is 18/4

Executive director at Transparency international. Apply to recruit@sadeptsystems.co.ke by 27/4

Regional Program Leader at the World Bank PPIAF Nairobi. D/L is 30/4