President William Ruto has revealed that the government is planning to list shares of the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) on the Nairobi Securities Exchange by September 2025
Ruto revealed that the structuring of the initial public offering (IPO) was being finalised by the Privatisation Commission before being presented to the Cabinet and Parliament for approval.
According to the president, the listing of KPC through an IPO is part of the strategy to privatise state-owned enterprises and attract both domestic and international investment.
"While other nations in the region have moved boldly and strategically to divest and reinvigorate their economies, Kenya has not undertaken a single privatisation in over a decade."
“There is compelling evidence that privatisation is necessary to eliminate inefficiencies and raise the standards of governance in our public enterprises,” Ruto said.
He explained that letting the public invest in KPC would help the company raise funds for regional expansion and diversification into products like LPG.
Ruto added that listing KPC will deepen the country's capital markets and give Kenyans a chance to own shares in a strategic infrastructure company.
“We are raising the bar to require public entities to begin disclosing standardised financial and operational data in line with capital markets standards."
"Within one year of initial disclosure, they will be required to list at least 20 per cent of their equity on the NSE,” Ruto added
In an IPO, a company raises capital from new investors by having part of its shares are made available for trading.
The move to list KPC will go ahead once it receives approval from the Cabinet before the end of July. After that the it will be submitted to Parliament for approval.
Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB), Rivatex East Africa, National Oil Corporation(NOC), and New Kenya Cooperative Creameries(NKCC) are other entities being privatised.
