Fight for Bamburi as Savannah rivals Tanzania’s Amson with Sh25bn buyout bid
The metaphorical relationship between chess game and business in the miniature world.
Kenya’s Savannah Clinker Limited has made a Sh70 per share offer to acquire the entire stake of Bamburi Cement for Sh25.41 billion, opening a bidding war with a Tanzania-based conglomerate which made an initial bid worth Sh23.59 billion.
Savannah Clinker, a private limited company registered in 2019 and wholly owned by Benson Sande Ndeta, has informed the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) of the competing offer and issued a public notice on Wednesday morning.
If Savannah’s offer is accepted, it will see Bamburi shareholders get an additional Sh5 per share, totalling Sh1.81 billion when compared with the Sh65 per share bid that Tanzania-based conglomerate, Amsons Industries, had made on July 10, 2024.
“Savannah Clinker Limited notifies the public that it has on 27 August 2024 served Bamburi Cement with a notice of intention to acquire up to 100 percent of the ordinary shares of Bamburi,” reads the notice in part.
“The competing offeror (Savannah) intends to make the competing offer for the entire issued share capital of Bamburi but will be prepared to complete the competing offer if it secures the purchase of at least 60 percent of the offer shares by the close of the competing offer.”
The competing offer could see Bamburi share rally further at the Nairobi Securities Exchange. Amson made the initial offer when Bamburi share was at Sh45 but has since gained over time, closing Tuesday at Sh64.50. By 11.40 am Wednesday, the share had gained by 4.65 percent to Sh67.50, going above Amson’s Sh65 offer price.
Bamburi is majority-owned by Holcim through two investment vehicles—Fincem Holding Limited and Kencem Holding Limited—with a combined stake of 58.3 percent. This means Holcim will be in line for about Sh14.8 billion if it accepts the Savannah deal.
The Savannah and Amsons bids come after Bamburi early March this year completed the sale of its 70 percent stake in its Ugandan subsidiary Hima Cement for an estimated $84 million (Sh10.8 billion) to a consortium of Sarrai Group and Rwimi Holdings.
Buyout timelines
Savannah proposes to complete the buyout by February 28, 2025, compared with Amson, which offered to close the deal by November 28, 2025. The firm plans to send the offer documents to shareholders of Bamburi.
The Savannah Clinker notice states that Mr Ndeta, a former chairman of East African Portland Cement, was the majority shareholder in the now-under-administration Savannah Cement until November 18, 2022, when his stake was transferred to a third party.
The notice further says Mr Ndeta, an executive chairman of Savannah Clinker, is in the process of exiting his directorship role at Savannah Cement which fell into administration on July 21, 2023, amid mounting debts.
Savannah Clinker, which owns Colburn Kenya Limited as a subsidiary, has told CMA that it is in the process of developing a limestone extraction and clinker processing plant in Kitui.
