Grim future for local firms as venture capital gravy train slows

Many of the largest buyouts in the last decade were based on revenue and profit expectations that were optimistic. [iStockphoto]

Troubled Kenyan firms waiting on the wings for buyouts by global private equity (PE) and venture capital investors are fretting as the season of record buyouts that had made the country a hotspot for private deals draws to a close.

This is amidst global market turmoil and recession fears as central banks across Europe, Asia and the United States (US) hike interest rates, restricting the flow of billion of dollars and other hard currencies from rich countries into emerging and frontier markets such as Kenya.