EA Cables split
The Board of East African Cables which has been riding high atop the stock exchange has recommended a 10 for 1 share split - 20,250,000 of par value 5/= will be split in 202,500,000 of par value 0.5 each.
Shareholders will be asked to approve this (really a formality since the Trancentury Group controls 75% of shares) at an EGM on September 1, books close on September 4, and the new shares will be listed on September 5, 2006.
This is the third company after Kenya Oil and East African Breweries to split their shares, and the others appreciated significantly thereafter. EA Cable shares have already climbed by 10% this week from 364 to 399 per share.
Intriguing, but maybe out of reach for me now since, a typical investment of 10,000 shillings, will yield only 25 shares at the current price of 400 shillings. After the split, this becomes 250 shares of about 40 shillings, which still looks promising.
Mumias Divestiture
As promised in the 2006 budget speech the Government has now began the process of divesting from Mumias Sugar Company. GoK will sell 18.04% of its’ 38.04% shareholding through an offer for sale on the NSE and parcelling the shares through brokers should be cheaper than going the mwananchi route again. As such they have advertised for transaction adviser/lead broker, legal advisor, reporting accountant, receiving bank, and PR firm to assist with the process with applications expected at the Treasury by 24 August.
