Shareholders of REA Vipingo Plantations Limited have approved sale of the firm’s land at Vipingo to Centum Investments Company as agreed upon in the settlement with R.E.A Trading Limited.
Shareholders of REA Vipingo Plantations voted in favour of the resolution at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held in a Nairobi hotel.
This paves way for the conclusion of the buyout by R.E.A Trading, which already holds 57 per cent of the sisal grower that is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
The Chairman of REA Vipingo Limited, Oliver Fowler said: “The shareholders have taken a decision on this matter. What now remains is for each individual shareholder to decide on the offer that has been put on the table by R.E.A Trading. As a board, we have recommended, based on an independent evaluation that we commissioned, for shareholders to accept the offer,”
The approval comes weeks after the offer resumed after R.E.A Trading entered a negotiated settlement with Centum Investment Company Limited that had made a rival bid for REA Vipingo.
R.E.A. Trading Limited is offering to buy all the ordinary shares of REA Vipingo that it does not already own at the price of Sh70 per share plus an additional cash top-up of Sh15 per share that it has decided that it will elect to pay immediately after the offer closes.
The CEO of REA Vipingo Plantations Limited, Neil Cuthbert said that the offer represents continuity and is good for the sisal grower’s future.
“The offer will help facilitate diversification of the REA Vipingo business, which may require taking on greater financial risks than it has hitherto done. Among the areas we intend to develop into beyond the existing business is the field of energy generation, including the utilization of biomass and possibly also solar,” Cuthbert added.
R.E.A. Trading has been a long-term investor in REA Vipingo Plantations and has a proven track record in managing plantations. Following the offer REA Vipingo Plantations may be de-listed from the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
The offer closes on May 13.
