Longhorn shares up 40% one week after listing on the NSE
Over 58 million shares of Longhorn Kenya Limited (Longhorn) - a Centum Investment Company (Centum) portfolio company, were successfully listed by introduction on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday the 30th of May, 2012 at a price of KES 14 per share.
The Kshs. 819 million listing on the Alternative Investment Market Segment (AIMS) saw Longhorn become the first publishing firm to go public in East Africa. A week later, the share price is up over 40% reversing the trend of recent IPO’s that have subsequently seen a sustained collapse in share price.
Centum is the largest shareholder in the market leading publisher having acquired a 35% stake in 2007. Longhorn is a strategic investment in the regional education sector that is strongly buoyed by high population growth, young population demographics and increasing participation in primary and secondary school education. Longhorn is a leading brand in the industry with a strong presence in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda and also serves export markets in Rwanda and Malawi. The listing looks to expand the company’s credentials as it seeks to establish a strong platform to accelerate its regional expansion strategy.
As a sign of commitment to the growth and long-term fundamentals of Longhorn, Centum and other key shareholders owning 70% in the company have undertaken not to dispose their shares such that their cumulative holding falls below 51% within 24 months of listing. Key shareholders, however, have the flexibility to exit to a strategic or financial investor within the lock-in period in a transaction approved by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA).
Longhorn’s listing is a testament of Centum’s burgeoning efforts to unlock shareholder value and further demonstrates the company’s ability to successfully deploy capital and create liquidity events at attractive valuations, as also demonstrated by the company’s recent exit from Carbacid in 2011.
Attached is Longhorn’s complete listing Information Memorandum (IM).