TransCentury to list its shares next week

Investments firm TransCentury will list its shares at the Nairobi Stock Exchange on Thursday next week. It will introduce its stock to the public at Sh50 per share, in what the management said would open it to a larger shareholder base.

“Widening our shareholder platform has always been a strategy and it is an avenue for us to raise more capital to support the growth potential that we have,” the firm’s chairman Zephaniah Mbugua told journalists yesterday.

TransCentury will be listing 267 million shares two years after it initially went to the bourse. Since 2009, it has been trading at the over the counter exchange through Dyer and Blair as administrators. The shares then were only available for purchase by qualified investors

Following approval from the Capital Markets Authority, the firm will now have some 600 million ordinary shares listed. It stopped trading at the OTC on June 3rd but will resume next week at the listing.

“The listing is a critical stage in our next phase of development. We shall require more capital in the future and this provides us with a good opportunity to raise it from the capital markets,” said Mr Gachao Kiuna, chief executive of the company.

TransCentury known as an anchor shareholder in East African Cables, has significant stakes in other firms in the region.
Set up shop in Nigeria

These includes Avery East Africa, Development Bank of Kenya, Zambia Metal Fabricators, Equity Bank, Stanbic Uganda, Kenya Airways, a Karen Property, Kewberg Cables (South Africa), and Rift Valley Railways (RVR).

According to Mr Kiuna, the firm is looking at setting up shop in Nigeria as the west African country continues to grapple with power inefficiency.

TransCentury was founded in 1998 with a membership of 29 but is reported to have roped in at least 20 more. The company’s shareholder register grew significantly after the 2007 private placement that sought to raise Sh3 billion.