Bamburi‘s biggest shareholder has approved a $182.8 million buyout offer from the Amsons Group. Holcim, the shareholder company in question, is a Swiss construction materials manufacturing company. It has made the decision to sell its 58.6% stake in Bamburi, Kenya’s biggest cement maker to Amsons, a Tanzanian energy group. Bamburi boasts of being the largest cement maker in Kenya, holding about 30% of the market share.
Amsons was reported to offer $0.52 (KES65) per share, which represented a 44.4% premium on Bamburi’s closing price on 10th July, 2024. That was the same date when the deal was made public. Following the announcement, Bamburi’s share price has rallied to KES61 ($0.47).
Alongside Holcim’s approval, minority shareholders and regulators including the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) and the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) will also need to put pen to paper to ratify the buy-out.
“KCB Investment Bank Ltd, being the transaction advisor and sponsoring stockbroker of Amsons has confirmed that Amsons has sufficient financial resources at its disposal to satisfy the consideration payable for all shares in Bamburi pursuant to a full acceptance of the offer,” Bamburi said.
A consequent effect of this transaction is that Bamburi will have to delist from the indigenous regulatory body – Nairobi Securities Exchange. The caveat is that the the purchasing company, Amsons, must receive the backing of at least 75% of the offered shares before attempting to get CMA’s approval to delist from the Nairobi bourse.
If it succeeds in a acquiring 90% of the offer share, Kenya’s takeover regulations require that Amsons “offers the remaining shareholders a consideration equal to the prevailing market price of the voting shares or the price offered to the other shareholders”.
This acquisition will see the Tanzanian company make its formal entry into the Kenyan market. Plans to expand into other sectors are underway, according to a company statement on July 10.
Amsons Group Managing Director, Edha Nahdi, said the proposed cross-border acquisition will deepen the group’s position in the cement sector in East Africa and is part of its broader regional expansion plans.
“Amsons Industries (T) Ltd is a quality cement products manufacturer in Tanzania under the brand names ‘Camel Cement’ and ‘Tembo Cement,’ two household brands in the Tanzanian construction market. Our offer to acquire shares in Bamburi is part of our corporate market expansion plan and will mark the formal entry of Amsons Group into the Kenyan market, where we plan to make investments in other industries in the coming months,” Nahdi said.
Amsons Group is a family-owned conglomerate that was founded in 2006. It has interests in oil and gas, real estate, wheat flour and cement. Its tentacles spread across Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Tanzanian firm enjoys an annual turnover of over $1 billion.
The company was founded in 2006 and started off as an importer of bulk oil and petroleum products. When compared to other companies in the same business line, Amsons Group has grown into a billion-dollar multinational company with a diversified portfolio that spans various industries.
