NAIROBI, Kenya, July 24 – President William Ruto has set a target for the initial public offering (IPO) of the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), stating that shares will debut on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) by September 2025.
Ruto, speaking at the NSE bell-ringing ceremony yesterday, revealed that the Cabinet is expected to sign off on the divestiture before the end of July, after which the proposal will proceed to Parliament.
The head of state emphasised that privatisation is a strategic imperative for Kenya’s public sector, saying, “Privatization is no longer optional”.
“There is compelling evidence that privatization is necessary to eliminate inefficiencies and raise the standards of governance in our public enterprises,” he said.
This move marks Kenya’s first attempt to privatise a state-owned enterprise through a listing in nearly two decades, with the last listing dating back to Safaricom’s IPO in 2008.
Ruto argued that engaging private investors will improve operational efficiency and governance across public entities.
Likewise, he outlined plans for proceeds from the KPC listing to finance the company’s expansion into regional markets and diversify its product portfolio to include LPG and other energy-related ventures.
Additionally, the government is introducing a disclosure regime that will mandate public institutions to release standardised financial and operational reports in line with capital market norms and compel them to float at least 20 percent of their equity on the NSE within a year of initial disclosure.
Other publicly owned firms in the pipeline for IPOs include the National Oil Corporation, New Kenya Cooperative Creameries, Kenya Literature Bureau, and Rivatex East Africa.
The government had on July 3 announced plans to list KPC on the NSE through an IPO in 2025 as part of a broader push to privatise state-owned enterprises and attract global capital.
