FILE PHOTO: The Two Rivers Shopping mall whose majority shareholding belongs to Centum Investment Company Nairobi, Kenya September 9, 2019. REUTERS/Njeri Mwangi NAIROBI (Reuters) – A unit of Centum Investment Company, Kenya’s largest listed investment firm, plans to spend 5 billion shillings ($45.02 million) to acquire stakes in domestic companies as well as those in neighbouring countries.
The group, which is also listed on the Uganda bourse, owns shares in listed and non-listed companies in real estate, manufacturing, energy, technology, education, banking and publishing.
“We’re in talks with a number of investee targets that we hope to conclude in the coming months,” Fred Murimi, managing partner of Centum Capital Partners, said in a statement released late on Friday.
“Three of the targeted firms are based in Kenya, while two are in neighbouring countries.”
Centum Investment is closely tracked by investors, as it offers exposure to opportunities such as shopping mall developments and listed and unlisted companies across East Africa.
The group swung to a pretax loss of 2.3 billion shillings in the year to the end of March hit by rising finance costs and effects of COVID-19 that cut income from other investments.
($1 = 111.0500 Kenyan shillings)