KenolKobil Suspended From the NSE for 12 Days

KenolKobil has been suspended from trading at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) for the next 12 days, further deepening the anxiety of the investors.

KenolKobil was taken over by a French firm Rubis Energie SAS in a transaction that raised eyebrows with allegations of inside trading hitting the management.

The new ‘owner’ had offered the existing shareholders a window of two months to sell their shares at a price of 23 shillings per share. The period was open for the 75 percent of KenolKobil’s shareholders with the takeover valued at 35.3 billion shillings.

The 12 days given to KenolKobil are meant to enable Rubis to transfer the shares of those shareholders who accepted to sell their shares.

At the time of the takeover, the Capital Markets Authority raised concerns over ‘suspicious’ trading in KenolKobil shares moments after the French firm announced its intentions to take over.

The current transaction, according to the management is within the requirements after it was said that it has hit the 50 percent plus one requirement.

Contrary to what many investors were thinking, KenolKobil will not change its name and will continue to operate as a listed company at the NSE.

It is not yet clear why the full buyout failed but some analysts have attributed the allegations of insider trading to the failure.

At the moment, Rubis owns a 25 percent stake of KenolKobil translating to about 367,793,124 shares.