Kenyan billionaire Chris Kirubi has bought back a 50 per cent stake in South African Haco Industries.
This buyout comes eight years after Mr. Kirubi sold his stake to South Africa’s Tiger Brands for an estimated Sh. 363 million. His initial selling price has certainly put the deal to be worth over Sh. 1 billion, based on appreciation.
The new deal will take his stake from 49 per cent to 100 per cent. According to a local business newspaper, Haco has agreements with several multinationals to manufacture and sell their brands in Kenya and East Africa.
The company, for instance, deals in Palmer’s Cocoa Butter (under licence from E.T. Brown Drug Company) and BIC ball pens (Societe BIC) and washroom cleaner Jeyes Bloo (Jeyes Plc), the daily reports.
Tiger last year started the process of selling its 51 per cent stake in Ethiopia’s East African Tiger Brands Industries in a deal that wrote the script for the pending breakup with Mr Kirubi.
In 2015, the company was caught up in an accounting fraud that was caused by pulling forward sales and falsification of stocks. This cost Tiger Sh. 400 million. Tiger shared that loss with Mr Kirubi, pulling its after-tax profit down to R942 million (Sh7.5 billion) from R1.8 billion (Sh14.3 billion) the year before.
Haco’s most valuable brands include BIC pens and shavers, Black Silk and Miadi (hair care) and So Soft (laundry).
