NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s cabinet has approved a government proposal to sell shares it holds in six listed companies, including a cement maker and the country’s securities exchange, President William Ruto’s office said.
The government will offload shares it holds in East African Portland Cement, Nairobi Securities Exchange, HF Group, Stanbic Holdings, Liberty Kenya Holdings and battery maker Eveready East Africa, Ruto’s office said in a statement late on Tuesday.
The government has a direct stake in East African Portland of 25.3%, while the National Social Security Fund owns 27%. The government owns a 3.36% shareholding in Nairobi Securities Exchange, 2.41% in HF Group, 1.1% of Stanbic Holdings, 0.9% of Liberty Kenya Holdings and 17.2% of Eveready.
The move complements government plans to offload shares in other state-owned companies. In November, Ruto said the government planned to privatise 35 state companies after enacting a law in October to guide the process.
However, that plan ran into hurdles in December last year after an opposition party went to court to challenge it, saying some of the companies to be sold were of strategic national interest and should only be sold after citizens approved it.
(Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
