Author: David Indeje

Microsoft Corp. plans to spend over  Kshs 10 billion over five years to open its first development centers in East and West Africa. Initial sites will be in Nairobi and Lagos. “The Africa Development Centre will be unlike any other existing investment on the continent. It will help us better listen to our customers, develop locally and scale for global impact,” Phil Spencer, Executive Vice President at Microsoft said. “Beyond that, it’s an opportunity to engage further with partners, academia, governments and developers- driving impact in sectors important to the continent, such as FinTech, AfriTech and OffGrid energy.” The company…

Economist David Ndii is calling for the withdrawal of The crops (Amendment) (No.2) Bill 2019, which proposes that all coffee grown in Kenya shall be processed in the country and clearly labeled as a ‘Made in Kenya’ before being exported. The legislation by Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria posits that all coffee grown in Kenya shall undergo processing, production and packaging within the country. “The Bill is to ensure that for the purposes of a favourable balance of trade and balance of payment, coffee shall not be processed from Kenya in its raw form,” Kuria says in his Memorandum of…

The Competition Authority of Kenya has approved the proposed merger between Commercial Bank of Africa and NIC Group. However, the approval is on condition that “…none of the employees of the merged entity are declared redundant within 12 months of closing the transaction in Kenya.” In January, NIC and CBA respective Board of Directors agreed to the merger. The proposed merger will be executed through a share swap. An exchange share ratio will be based on a 47:53 relative valuation of NIC and CBA respectively. Post-merger, the market share of merged entity will be 10.67%. This will make it the…

The Kenya Revenue Authority on Friday interdicted 75 members of its staff on allegations of abetting tax evasion and bribery. However, according to KRA’s statement, they have not been charged but being questioned. “Investigations into the rackets have been in progress for the last four months with covert assistance provided by national law enforcement agencies to help in trailing money and communication,” it said. Those accused, 61 are from Domestic Taxes Department and the remaining 14 are from Customs and Border Control Department. “The practices in question include facilitation of fraudulent clearance of cargo, fraudulent amendment of tax returns so…

Uganda has announced the second round of competitive bidding for five oil exploration blocks in its Albertine Graben region by the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development. Minister of Energy and Mineral Development Eng. Irene Muloni on Thursday said they were expecting potential exploration companies for the blocks given that the current price of crude oil was high and very attractive for investment. “I am very pleased to announce that my five new brides are ready. They are very attractive and easy to find. I invite investors to come and take them up,” Muloni said. The five blocks are Avivi…

Kenya has announced a roadshow for a dual-tranche Eurobond (12- and 31-year paper) to raise Ksh250 billion for both bonds. The international tour will target investors in Europe and the United States. The National Treasury has appointed J.P. Morgan and Standard Chartered to lead the new Eurobond issue. https://twitter.com/PaulWallace123/status/1126155887628955648 “Pricing for the bond is still uncertain. However, whereas heightened risk aversion on the back of geopolitical and trade tensions and the absence of the IMF pre-cautionary facility may attract a higher premium, sound domestic economic underpinnings as well as sustained yield search amidst a dovish drift in major central banks’…