Nizar Juma Chairman Jubilee Holdings during the launch of Explorer health insurance at Serena yesterday photoKARUGA WA NJUGUNA Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed financial services firm Jubilee Holdings has acquired an additional 10 per cent stake in undersea cable service provider SEACOM.
This raises Jubilee’s shareholding in SEACOM from 18.8 per cent after an initial 8.8 per cent stake purchase.
The firm did not reveal its financing plan for the stake and amount involved.
SEACOM Holding was valued at $196 million (Sh22.3 billion) in 2020, meaning the 18.8 per cent shareholding puts Jubilee’s total stake at around Sh4 billion.
Jubilee Holdings said it purchased the stake through IPS Cable System Limited, which has acquired SEACOM Holding Ltd (Mauritius) shareholding amounting to 10 per cent.
“The completion of this transaction lends credence to our continued need to diversify our investment priorities across key sectors of the economy,” Jubilee Holdings Limited chairman Nizar Juma said.
He said the firm’s investments into energy and ICT are representative of this diversification and importantly manifest desire to participate as an engine of economic growth of our region.
SEACOM launched Africa’s first broadband submarine cable system along the continent’s eastern and Southern coasts in 2009.
Through its ownership of Africa’s most extensive ICT data infrastructure, including multiple subsea cables and a continent-wide IP-MPLS network, SEACOM provides a full suite of flexible, scalable and high-quality communications and cloud solutions that enable the growth of the continent’s economy.
It leverages cloud technology to equip small to medium enterprises with cost-effective, simple-to-integrate business tools that rapidly extend their reach.
The firm continues to diversify its investment profile with interests in the telecommunication and energy sector.In 2020, Jubilee Holdings bought an additional 9.44 per cent stake in Uganda’s Bujagali Energy Limited from technical partners SN Power for Sh4.2 billion ($40 million).This pushed its shareholding in the energy firm to 18.24 per cent.Bujagali Energy is the special purpose vehicle that owns the 250MW Bujagali Hydropower Project which cost approximately Sh95.4 billion ($900 million).The funding was through a combination of equity and debt financing.
