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Wednesday, September 16, 2015

MAURITIUS TO SELL BRITAM STAKE ONCE SKYSCRAPER COMPLETE

The government of Mauritius is waiting for Britam to complete its Sh7billion (USD70m) 31-storey Britam Tower before selling a 23 per cent stake it seized from Mauritian tycoon Dawood Rawat.

This is to allow the value of the company to increase and earn Mauritius the maximum cash it can get from offloading the shares.

The country's minister for Finance has said he will offload at US$128m (Sh12.8billion) if a seller offers that amount.

Currently, Britam's stock on the Nairobi Securities Exchange is trading at Sh17.20 (US17 cents) giving the company a market capitalization of Sh32billion.

This means if Mauritius was to sell the 23 per cent stake today, it would fetch them Sh7.1bn ($70m), a shortfall of about Sh5.7bn ($57m).

"They are waiting for the tower to be completed before they sell," a source close to the Finance Minister said.

The information is likely to get Private Equity funds thinking fast about raising the cash to possibly make a bid once this is done.

With many Kenyan companies having domiciled in Mauritius for tax reasons, this deal could even be made on the island long before it is announced in Kenya.

The Britam Tower will be one of the greenest buildings in the country with Wind turbines at the top providing power for parts of the building.

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