Investment company Centum has placed Sh3 billion on offer to acquire large scale agricultural firm Rea Vipingo.
Centum CEO James Mworia
This is Sh600 million more than the Sh2.4 billion offered by two British brothers Richard and Jeremy Robinow last month. The two brothers own a 57.04 per cent of the company while Centum owns a 0.5 per cent stake holding 296,500 shares.
Centum wants to pay Sh50 per each share while the two brothers, through their company Rea Trading, has offered to pay Sh40 per share. There are 60 million shares that are being fought for. It the brothers accept the Centum offer, they will pocket close to Sh1.7 billion.
Analysts believe the scramble for the listed agriculture company is informed by the thousands of acres of land they own in Kenya and Tanzania. The value of land in Kenya has risen sharply in recent years and even though Centum management could not comment on if they want to turn the sisal plantations into real estate ventures, this is likely given the boom in Kenya’s real estate sector.
Sterling Securities head of research Moses Waireri said Centum may find their offer falling on deaf ears because the two brothers are also interested in the Rea Vipingo lands.
“I am sure the Britons will come with a counter offer,” said Wairegi.
Centum also expressed a cautious optimism on the deal. “The offer may or may not be accepted by some or all of the shareholders of RVP and, at this time, it is not possible to determine the level of acceptances that may be received by Centum and as such it is not possible to determine the impact of the offer on Centum,” Centum said in a cautionary statement to the NSE.
Centum said Rea Vipingo will continue as a listed company even if the the deal goes through while the two brothers want to delist the company if the offer is accepted by other shareholders.
By PETER KIRAGU, The Star
