NAIROBI, October 23 – Minority shareholders of Unilever Tea Kenya have just five days to take up a share offer by Brooke Bond Group Limited or they risk losing the ability to trade with their shares.
Job Kihumba, the Executive Director of Standard Investment Bank, the sponsoring stockbroker said on Thursday that the Sh62 per share offer would close at 3.00 pm on October 28.
Mr Kihumba said; “the Offer Document states that once the (exercise) is declared successful, shareholders who do not respond to the offer will not be able to trade in their Unilever Tea shares since the company will no longer be listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.”
Unilever PLC through its subsidiary Brooke Bond received approval from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) in early September to issue a buy-out offer to minority shareholders of Unilever Tea.
Currently, Brooke Bond Group, which is part of the Unilever PLC Group, holds 88.24 per cent stake in Unilever and this latest move will see them acquire 100 per cent shareholding in the listed firm.
The UK-based company applied to CMA in August for approval of the offer document by which it proposes to acquire the 11.8 percent shareholding in Unilever Tea at a cost of Sh356.5 million.
Unilever has on the other hand applied to Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) and the CMA to have its shares suspended from trading at the bourse.
The results of the offer are expected to be announced within 10 days of the closing date, and if successful, Unilever Tea Kenya would then be delisted from the NSE.
Brooke Bond Group owns other subsidiaries in Africa which includes Unilever Tea Tanzania.
