British-American Investments Company (Kenya) Limited (“British-American”) the holding company of British-American Insurance Company (Kenya) Limited, British-American Asset Managers Limited and Britam Insurance Company (Uganda) Limited, has announced plans for an Initial Public Offering of its Shares (IPO) and a subsequent listing on the Main Investment Market Segment of Nairobi Stock Exchange (“NSE”) subject to the necessary approvals from the shareholders and the Capital Markets Authority (“CMA”).
In a statement, the Chairman of the company’s Board of Directors, Mr. J. Nicholas Ashford-Hodges said: “This offer is an issue of new shares. The new capital raised will be used to drive British-American’s ambitious growth strategy.”
The Group Managing Director Mr Benson Wairegi said, “Whereas we are part of a global institution, the public listing of our Kenyan operation will give an opportunity to Kenyans to own a piece of the company they have supported tremendously for the last 46 years and be part of our ambitious growth and expansion strategy. This IPO will indeed give us an opportunity to increase the scope of our operations and widen our footprint. Having recently opened operations in Uganda, our strategic intent is to spread our wings even further to the rest of East Africa, that is, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Southern Sudan. Apart from the regional expansion we are also keen to take advantage of emerging opportunities in this market as well as enhance service and product delivery across the board”.
The company has appointed NIC Capital and KPMG Kenya to be the joint lead transaction advisors, Standard Investment Bank and Kestrel Capital are the joint lead sponsoring stock brokers,
PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) are the reporting accountants while Hill & Knowlton (EA) and Scanad Kenya will handle the public relations and advertising respectively. The legal advisers will be Daly & Figgis, Advocates.
British-American group has grown tremendously since its inception in Kenya in 1965. It has evolved over the years, from a home service life insurance company to a diversified financial services group with insurance and asset management businesses. The Kenyan subsidiaries have been successful in providing investment products & services and are market leaders in their respective jurisdiction.
The group now offers a wide range of products to individuals, small businesses, corporations and government entities. The range of products includes life insurance, pensions, health insurance, and general insurance through its insurance arm of the business, while financial solutions which include, unit trusts, investment planning, wealth management, off-shore investments, retirement planning and discretionary portfolio management are offered through its asset management business. In addition, the company also carries out property development.
Its human resource currently stands at over 300 employees and 1000 Financial Advisors with revenues in excess of Kshs. 4.0 billion and total assets of over Kshs. 20.0 billion. The company has 14 branches, in Kenya five of which are in Nairobi and nine branches countrywide (Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, Nyeri, Eldoret, Kisii, Thika, Meru and Embu).
The Group also owns strategic stakes of 11.00 % and 12.55% in Equity Bank Limited and Housing Finance respectively. Both these firms are listed on the main Investment Board in the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
About British-America Investments Company (Kenya) Limited:
British-American Investments Company (Kenya) Limited is a leading financial services group incorporated in Kenya under the Companies Act as a private limited liability company, and is domiciled in Kenya. Its largest shareholder is the British-American Investment Co. (Mauritius) Ltd, a financial services company listed in the Mauritius Stock Exchange and with presence in the UK, Mauritius, Malta and Kenya.
The insurance company underwrites all classes of life and non-life insurance risks as defined by the Insurance Act, with the exception of aviation, bond investment and industrial life assurance. It also issues investment contracts to provide its customers with asset management solutions for their savings and retirement needs. The asset management company’s principal activity is the provision of investment advisory and fund management services, and is subject to the provisions of the Kenyan Capital Markets Act.
The company recently spread its wings and opened a company in Kampala Uganda, Britam Insurance Company (Uganda) Limited, and will underwrite the same classes of business underwritten in Kenya.
The ownership
British-American Investments Co. (Mauritius) is the largest shareholder of the British-American, with a shareholding of 36.7 percent. The rest of the shares are owned by a group of local investors including Mr. Jimnah Mbaru, Mr. Peter Munga, Dr. James Mwangi and Mr. Benson I. Wairegi.
