Puneet Varma (Editor)

TransCentury Limited

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Type
  
Public Company KN: TCL

Headquarters
  
Nairobi, Kenya

Area served
  
Sub-Saharan Africa

Website
  
Homepage

Founded
  
1997

TransCentury Limited wwwtranscenturycokeimageslogojpg

Industry
  
Investments, Infrastructure

Products
  
Private equity, infrastructure

Revenue
  
:Aftertax KES 1.983 Billion (2014)

Total assets
  
KES 19.464 Billion (December 2014)

Key people
  
Zephaniah Mbugua; Chairman; Ng’ang’a Njiinu; CEO

Divisions
  
Power, transport, and engineering

Subsidiaries
  
Tenneco Mauritius Holdings Ltd (Mauritius)

TransCentury Limited is an infrastructure company whose stock is "listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) with three divisions across 14 countries in East, Central and Southern Africa".

Contents

Location

The company's headquarters are located in Nairobi, Kenya, with subsidiaries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Mauritius, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and South Africa.

Overview

TransCentury is an investment and infrastructure company that has grown from a club of 29 friends worth less than KES 30 million in 1997, to a private equity firm and later listing on the NSE.

As at December 2014, TransCentury's total assets were valued at about KES 19.464 billion, with shareholders' equity valued at approximately KES 11.482 billion. The firm acquired a controlling interest in East African Cables in 2004, Avery in 2005, 34% of Rift Valley Railways in 2006, Tanelec and Kewberg cables in 2007 and Civicon in 2011.

Exited investments include Chai Bora of Tanzania which was acquired in 2008 (it was later sold to Catalyst Principal Partners in 2013 for an undisclosed amount) and a minority stake in Castle Brewery Kenya Limited (an SABMiller subsidiary) which it exited in 2002 when the brewer's parent firm pulled out of the local market after a market truce with EABL. TransCentury exited Rift Valley Railways (RVR) in April 2014 by selling its 34% stake in the Consortium to Citadel Capital of Egypt for an estimated US$37.8 million (KES:3.216 billon). TransCentury first invested in RVR in December 2006 by acquiring a 20% stake in the company and later increased its shareholding to 34% in May 2010.

In June 2014, TransCentury announced that it was going to invest a subs tantial sum from the RVR sale in a 35-megawatts geothermal power plant consortium in Menengai.

Member companies

The companies that comprise the TransCentury Group of companies include, but are not limited, to the following, as at December 2014.

  • East African Cables – Nairobi, Kenya: TransCentury's first major investment. It is a cable manufacturing company that is listed on the NSE as CABL. It has subsidiaries in Kenya and Tanzania and distribution networks across the Eastern Africa region. In 2014, TransCentury owned 64.3 percent of East African Cables. On 26 February 2014, TransCentury announced that it was in talks with Aureos East Africa Fund LLC to acquire all of the shares held by Aureos in East African Cables in exchange for shares of the company, by way of a share swap. This transaction increased the group's shareholding in East African Cables to 68.38%.
  • Avery (East Africa) Limited – Nairobi, Kenya: Avery supplies, manufactures, maintains and repairs weighing scales. TransCentury owns 94.4% of Avery.
  • Civicon – Mombasa, Kenya: Civicon Limited is an engineering firm. Civicon has operations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Congo DR and South Sudan. Its capabilities include oil and gas, power, industrial installations, specialised transport, roads, bridges, other civil works, and mining. In 2013, Civicon won a lucrative contract that involved building of roads, airstrips and other supporting infrastructure around Tullow Oil's exploration blocks in northern Kenya. TransCentury owns a controlling stake in Civicon.
  • Kewberg – Johannesburg, South Africa: Kewberg Cables & Braids Proprietary Limited is a leading manufacturer of instrumentation and control cables, mining and other specialised cables manufactured according to customer specifications.
  • Tanelec – Arusha, Tanzania: Tanelec Limited offers comprehensive repair and service on switchgears and transformers. The company services Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia. TransCentury owns 70% of Tanelec.
  • Cableries Du Congo – Kinshasa, DR Congo: A cable manufacturing and distribution company. TransCentury owns 100% of Cableries Du Congo.
  • Development Bank of Kenya – Nairobi, Kenya: A commercial bank in Kenya whose primary focus is to promote and develop commercially viable projects in Kenya. TransCentury owns 10.70% of Development Bank of Kenya with the balance held by ICDC.
  • Ownership

    The shares of the TransCentury are listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange under the symbol TCL. As of December 2014, the shareholding of TransCentury was as follows:

    Governance

    TransCentury is governed by an eight-person Board of Directors with Zephania Mbugua as the chairman and Ng’ang’a Njiinu as the Acting CEO.

    References

    TransCentury Limited Wikipedia