Category Archives: Kenya Pipeline

Mostly Safaricom: 2 days to IPO

Prospectus is out

but before that
– The Kenya Capital Investment Group has a nice post to guide Diaspora investors considering the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) for the first time
– Which broker to use for Safaricom? Check out the Business daily on Friday March 28 for a guide to stockbrokers – the good, the bad, and the rogue. Afrika investment bank is the newest (previously was Ashbhu Securities) I-bank now.
– beyond Safaricom I Co-op bank announces plans to list, which is a great overdue addition to the NSE
– beyond Safaricom II and if the Finance Minister is by chance short in his bid to raise money from the privatization process, I’ve always maintained that he should go after another prime company; Kenya Pipeline – with pre-tax profits of Kshs. 4 billion (and EPS of 163), ripe for a split and a listing
– loans for shares: Joining equity bank in offering 100% financing is family bank, oriental and national bank so far. I may change my stance on loans for shares if I see a bank with a clear policy of loan prepayment, in case say 80% of the cash is not utilized – so an investor is not left with a loan to squander, instead of shares to sell
– Investors will be able to use pesa point ATM’s to pay for IPO shares
– Housing finance signing with Safaricom’s M-Pesa for money transfer last week shows how traditional companies like Western Union have been overtaken by changes in the banking industry.
– Writing in the Financial Standard (Tuesday) Jonathan Somen, CEO of Access Kenya (the last ICT company to be listed) calls Safaricom a good short term buy as they have performed prior to the arrival of France’s Orange (formerly Telkom Kenya) and India’s Essar (through Econet)
– Africa Alliance has opened an IPO center in Nairobi – open from 7am to 7 pm
– DYK: You have to apply to use the Kenya flag on any product? Safaricom have received permission to use it on scratch cards, the Tea Board of Kenya to display it on tea packets, and Nike International (through their lawyers) to sell it on hooded jackets!
– Pay for mail; CDS will for the first time require IPO applicants to pay Kshs. 30 for mailing each confirmed allocation.

Safaricom IPO and other opportunities

Safaricom IPO: The calendar is on for the sale of 25% of Safaricom shares to the public and the government of Kenya (who are yielding part of their 60% ownership) have advertised for a lead transaction advisor, lead sponsoring broker, (4) co-sponsoring brokers, legal advisor, reporting accountant, PR firm, advertising consultant, receiving bank, and a share registrar for the IPO. Details at investmentsecretary@treasury.co.ke D/L is 16 July. There have been complaints about firms offering such work for free to gain prestige

Safaricom call center. The company is also seeking to outsource customer service for prepaid subscribers to an external firm (Current traffic ranges from 10,000 – 20,000 calls per day). Details from dngobia@safaricom.co.ke and D/L is 11/7

other happenings
Pipeline finance: The Kenya Pipeline Company seeking financing for the Nairobi-Mombasa and Nairobi-Western Kenya (Nakuru, Kisumu, Eldoret) segments amounting to Kshs. 7.5 billion ($107) million over the next 2 years. D/L is 31/7

Housing: The National Housing Corporation offering 890 3-bedroom flats in Langata phase II ranging from 3.9 to 4.1 million each ($55,000 – $58,000). The corporation is also selling 38 maisonettes in Kiambu phase ii at between 3.2 and 3.4 million shillings.

Barclays
– Good : The bank has hired external debt collection agents – outsourcing a time consuming tedious function.
– Not good : The only thing worse then taking a personal loan to buy shares is using a credit card to buy shares. An investor is already in the hole, and needs his shares return 30% a year, just to break even. Using a debit card may be ok though, but factor in the card fees.

Education
– New Aga Khan University campus to be set up in Nairobi
– Moi University to soon offer a masters degree in banking & finance

Media
– Desperate Housewives start next month on KTN. Hope they don’t butcher the show like they did with the Soprano’s (heavily edited, shown at 11 PM on Sunday night and often out of sequence)
– The Naiorbi Nairobi Star (new daily newspaper from KISS FM team ) hit the streets today with a lot of fanfare, but does it have legs?

Kutwa Tuesday (June 12)

IPO Wanted

To plug a hole in the budget
Kenya Pipeline is in the news again – this time suing the Kenya Times group. The company has an enviable profitable track record for a Parastatal which makes it a ripe prime candidate for an IPO but mostly gets saddled with bad news for all the wrong reasons and controversial. A dose of public shareholding will lead to greater transparency & accountability and less political football at the company which is more profitable than Kengen (It earned 3.9 billion (pre-tax) in June 2006, up from 2.4 billion in June 2005 (Kengen reported 3.8 and 1.8 billion pre-tax in those years)

Kenya Re earnings
A point brought out by MainaT’s comment – what was Kenya Re’s true profit in 2005?

Post TED: Kenyan wildlife
The Economist analyses hippos and cheetahs

opportunities

Jobs

  • Director of internal audit at East African Development Bank. Apply through KPMG at esd@kpmg.co.ug by 20/6
  • Investment Climate Facility for Africa: Finance Director, Director, Strategic Knowledge, Projects Director, Director, and Legal/Regulatory Affairs. Apply through PWC at recruit@tz.pwc.com by 15/6
  • Project manager at Inmobia. Apply to job@inmobia.com by 12/6
  • Research assistants at Kemri-Wellcome. Apply online
  • Management trainees at Kenya Wildlife Services. D/L is 22/6
  • Chief internal auditor at Kenya Women’s Finance Trust. (D/L is 18/6)
  • Nielsen: IT system manager, research executives. Apply to hr@acnielsen.co.ke by 16/6
  • Safaricom: senior manager financial systems & analysis, site acquisition officer, senior learning & development officer, senior buyers (communication, technology – 3 positions). Apply to hr@safaricom.co.ke by 15/6
  • Group head of ICT at UAP insurance (D/L is 21/6)
  • Urgent Cargo: credit controller, sales executives, HR & admin officer. Jobs@urgentcargo.com by 22/6
  • Wilderness Lodges (owners of Keekorok) head of marketing, internal auditor. Apply to recruit@adeptsystems.co.ke by 22/6

Awards

  • Africa women entrepreneurs (from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania Uganda) get voices heard and be recognized. Nominations to be submitted to the Cineartsafrika website by 29/6
  • East African Community students essay competition. D/L is 19/7

Partnerships

  • Become a Citi hoppa franchisee. Cost at 50,000 per bus and get details at info@citihoppa.com
  • Become a Keringet water distributor. Details at keringet@water.co.ke
  • Get a mobile phone kiosk Sasanet. Details at sales@sasanet.co.ke

Vote The Electoral Commission of Kenya has reopened voter registration from June 11 to July 10 for Kenyans wishing to vote in the elections expected in December 2007.

Previous Kutwa Tuesday

Get off the CEO seat gently

Life at the top is a luxurious affair, which is why when you are let go, you have to be dragged away screaming.

Prof Mwangi Kimenyi, the former Kenya Institute of Public Policy, Research and Analysis (Kippra) executive director and Dr Shem Ochuodho, former Kenya Pipeline MD, are both suing the Government for wrongful dismissal.

Parastatal reform must start at the top, and Kenya needs to have clear guidelines as to what a CEO is entitled to as Amb. Mutahura spelt out this week. Whether you hire someone from the golf course, a multi-national, the UN, or the US, there must be clear terms and conditions, otherwise, people will pull a Gachara and dictate their salaries. The Government can expect a third suit from Dr Evans Mukolwe, who was just replaced at the KWS.