KPC set to shake up NSE top 10 as it seeks Sh106 billion in IPO

Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) petroleum storage facilities in Nairobi on August 21, 2024. [Kanyiri Wahito, Standard]

The planned listing of Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) in March is expected to push I&M Group out of the Nairobi Securities Exchange’s top 10 companies by market capitalisation.

According to the lead transaction adviser, KPC will debut as the fifth-largest listed firm by value once it hits the bourse.

The company’s Initial Public Offer (IPO) was unveiled on Monday, pricing shares at Sh9 each with a minimum investment of 100 shares.

 11.8 billion shares are on sale with the company having total shareholding of 18.1 billion. The 11.8 billion shares represent 65 per cent of the company that the government through the National Treasury, is selling to the public.

The Sh9 per share offer has however raised question if truly that represents the value of the company. This is notwithstanding that KPC enjoys monopoly in the transportation and storage of petroleum products.

Dr Kenne Belgrade, the lead transaction advisor from Faida Investment Bank, says the share price is actually a discount.

“In our view, we have offered KPC shares to the market at a discount rate,” he says. “Experts will tell you the offer is fairly priced. Perhaps those who are more rigid towards certain principle will tell you it is more upward.”

Belgrade says analysts’ view of valuation differs from commoners with the latter raising questions why they should buy at such a higher price.

“For us transaction advisors sitting between the camps of ‘it is undervalued’ and ‘it is overvalued’, we wanted to remain professional,” he says.

“We have been receiving a lot of push and pull as to where it is, and we are happy to note that we have been stepping in to compromise on the two sides.”

From the share price of Sh9, the valuation of the company settles at Sh163.5 billion.

As such, going by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) Q4 2025 Statistical Bulleting, upon listing, KPC will be the fifth company by market capitalisation.

Safaricom is the leading company by market capitalisation at Sh11.1 trillion as listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). It is followed by Equity Group at Sh251.89 billion, KCB Group Sh211.29 billion, EABL Sh207.97 billion and NCBA Sh138.39 billion.

The listing of KPC will edge out NCBA from the fifth position which will also push out I&M Group, currently at position 10 with a market capitalisation of Sh73.87 billion, from the top 10 list.

From the schedule shared, KPC shares will go public for trading on March 9, 2025, with President William Ruto expected to symbolically ring the bell for the new listing.

Prospective shareholders have until February 19 to bid for their allotment through an electronic process, being the first IPO conducted online. Results of the IPO will be public on March 4, thereafter payments are made before trading commences on March 9.

“From how you apply, pay to allocation (of shares), it will be done online to eliminate paper-based workforce,” said Abdulhaleem Kiswili Mohamed, chief executive image registrars.

He explained that previous listings were heavy on paper work that involved investors queuing at the agents’ offices to fill forms who will then move the same from office to another.

In the KPC listing, investors can get their share of the shares through a USSD code, *483*816# that works even on feature phones or through https://kpcipo.e-offer.app.

The government aims to raise Sh106.3 billion through the IPO.

“Over the last three or four years, we have done close to about Sh22 billion in dividends to the National Treasury. You are investing in a future that is guaranteed,” said KPC Managing Director Joe Sang.

Sang rallied investors to bet on the IPO saying KPC is operating virtually debt free having repaid a Sh45.5 billion ($350 million) debt taken 10 years ago to build a pipeline between Nairobi and Mombasa.

“That loan was cleared in record time; in less than 10 years,” he said. “This is a company that is able to go ahead of itself and generate more than it dissipates.”