CMA faulted over handling of Rea Vipingo sale

By JAMES ANYANZWA

NAIROBI, KENYA: Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has been faulted in its handling of the proposed take-over of the agricultural firm REA Vipingo Plantations Ltd.

This comes after one of the bidders, Vania Investments Pool Ltd yesterday applied for judicial review orders requiring the High Court to lift CMA’s February 28 deadline for new bidders to submit their offers and existing bidders to vary their original offers. The firm also wants an independent committee to be constituted to manage the take-over process that generated intense rivalry.

According to the application, the firm argues that the market regulator has insisted on implementing a timetable for the take-over of REA Vipingo Plantations Ltd based on its administrative direction, which stopped new offers from being made or existing offers being amended.

“The direction is in breach of, inter alia, Regulation 13 of the Capital Markets (Take-overs and Mergers) Regulations 2002, which allows any competing offer in a takeover scheme to submit its documents at any time provided that this is done within 10 days before the close of an offer,” the firm said through its advocate Walker Kontos. According to the application document in our possession the bidder has now been blocked from amending its offer bid in RVPL.

There is also uproar from a section of shareholders of RVPL over CMA’s handling of the issue, which has effectively shut them out from being offered improved bids for their shares in the plantation firm.

 “Unless the implementation of the timetable is halted, the Applicant (VIP) will without justification be blocked from amending its offer and the shareholders of RVPL will also be blocked from benefiting from the applicant’s new offer,” read the application document in part.

The other bidders for the agricultural firm includes the London-based REA Vipingo Ltd and listed investment firm Centum.