The Rabar family has revealed its Sh294.5 million fortune in Homeboyz Entertainment (HBE) as they defied Covid-19 headwinds to list the company on the Nairobi bourse yesterday.
The listing statement puts each share of the company at Sh4.66 with the former DJ-turned entertainment and events organiser Myke Rabar holding 35.612 million shares worth Sh165.95 million.
Mr Rabar’s wife Rose Nyaguthii has 27.568 million shares valued at Sh128.47 million. The remaining 20,000 shares worth Sh93,200 are held by John Obonyo — Mr Rabar’s brother.
Homeboyz listed 63.2 million on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) by way of introduction on the Growth Enterprise Market Segment (Gems) that already has Home Afrika, Flame Tree, Kurwitu Ventures and Nairobi Business Ventures.
The listing comes on the back of the entertainment firm having enrolled for the NSE incubation programme dubbled Ibuka. The programme has attracted 27 firms since launch two years ago.
Mr Rabar, who started off as a DJ in Nairobi in 1995, is the founder and chief executive of Homeboyz Entertainment. His wife serves as the finance and administration director while his brother is an executive director.
Mr Rabar said going public would fulfil his dream of raising new capital to fuel expansion across East Africa as well as give the company recognition leading to more business.
“This listing will allow us to create value for ourselves and prospective shareholders. This exercise enables us to compare our value against local and international benchmarks and subsequently informs our strategic growth plans for the business,” said Mr Rabar.
“Additionally, the listing will give us the unique opportunity to participate in corporate finance transactions such as mergers and acquisitions as well as allowing us to access affordable capital through our capital markets.”
Mr Rabar, his wife and brother are also directors at Homeboyz Radio 2017 Limited — a separate entity from what has joined the NSE.
Mr Rabar and his brother John each have 245 ordinary shares in Homeboyz Radio while Radio Africa Limited has 510 shares.Firms listing on the Gems are among other conditions required to ensure that 15 per cent of the shares are made available for trading by the public and held by at least 25 independent shareholders within three months of listing.However, NSE chief executive Geoffrey Odundo said: “We usually give firms three months but Covid-19 has made businesses report depressed earnings, retrenchments and uncertainty. We decided to extend the public trading requirement for HBE to a year.”
