An employee of ARM Cement packages cement at the firm’s Athi River plant in Kenya. PHOTO |FILE The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has suspended the shares of ARM Cement from trading on the Nairobi bourse after the company was placed under administration on Friday.
According to a public notice issued by Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), the shares of the cement-maker, stuck in more than Ksh14.4 billion ($144 million) debt, will remain suspended from the bourse for seven working days effective Monday, August 20.
“This is to inform you of the suspension in trading of Athi River Mining Cement Plc shares, following the placement of the company under administration pursuant to Section 534(1) of the Insolvency Act, 2015,” said NSE in a notice.
All shareholders, investors and the general public have been asked to take note of the suspension.
PwC takeover
Muniu Thoiti and George Weru of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) took over the management of the cement maker on Friday, days after embattled CEO Pradeep Paunrana left his executive roles as did chairman Wilfred Murungi.
The Insolvency Act of 2015 gives companies going through financial turmoil an opportunity to put their act together, including settlement of debts.
This allows them to continue to operate instead of the earlier practice of abruptly killing them as was the case with the previous Act.
On Friday, ARM share was the top gainer, according to research by AIB Capital. It gained by 8.82 per cent to close the week at Ksh5.55 ($0.055).
Its share was also third highest mover, managing 556,900 shares. Only Safaricom and KenGen beat it.
Foreigners cashed out Ksh672,000 ($6,700), making it among the top five shares with highest foreign sales on Friday.
