The Treasury has acquired a 60% stake in Telkom Kenya from Helios Investment Partners, a UK-based private equity fund, for Sh6.09 billion, making the company fully State-owned.
According to documents tabled in Parliament, the purchase was one of a series of expenditures incurred by the Treasury without the approval of Parliament in the weeks leading up to President William Ruto’s inauguration on September 13.
British Investment firm, Helios Investment Partners, has offloaded the 60 percent stake in Telkom Kenya, making the company a fully owned state parastatal.
The Kenyan government, which previously owned a 40 percent stake in Telkom, now owns the company fully.
The exit comes six years after Jamhuri acquired majority ownership in the integrated telecommunications solutions provider from France Telecom in June 2016 through its local subsidiary Orange. Jamhuri Holdings Limited notified the government of its intention to exit Telkom in August 2021.
The collapse of the proposed merger between Telkom and Airtel Kenya following disapproval of the transaction by the government may have accelerated the exit.
In 2015, Helios exited Equity Bank Group with the sale of its final stake to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Uganda, following exits to Norwegian investment fund, Norfund and UK investment management firm Genesis Investment Management LLP.
More recently, Helios exited its investment in Vivo Energy to Vitol Group following an earlier partial exit through a public listing on the London Stock Exchange.
Helios’ current investments are spread across several firms and countries in East Africa in Financial Services, technology, infrastructure, Healthcare, Energy, and customer sectors.
