British firm acquires Rea Vipingo Plantations Ltd (NSE:REA) for Sh85 a share

Rea Vipingo Plantations Ltd (NSE:REA) has been taken private at Sh85 a share by a British company known as REA Trading Limited. Shares of Rea Vipingo have ended their trading on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) following the acquisition. Rea Vipingo is a sisal grower whose assets (land) span Kenya and Tanzania.

REA Trading Limited, owned by British brothers, Richard and Jeremy Robinow, secured the approval of 90% of Rea Vipingo Plantations Ltd (NSE:REA) shareholders to go ahead with the acquisition of the sisal plantations operator. The Sh85 a share offer by REA Trading was nearly three times Rea Vipingo’s last trading price of Sh27.50.

Major shareholder with 57% stake
REA Trading was the majority shareholder in Rea Vipingo, owning 57% stake in the sisal company. As such, the British firm only needed to round up 43% of Rea Vipingo that it didn’t already control, and it got its way after other Rea Vipingo shareholders overwhelmingly backed its bid. However, the journey to acquiring Rea Vipingo was long and eventful.

Rival bids
REA Trading made a buyout offer for Rea Vipingo Plantations Ltd (NSE:REA) on April 25, but the bid was countered by Centum Investment Company Ltd (NSE:ICDC) on May 2.  Another firm known as Vania Investments also weighed in to try and wrestle Rea Vipingo from both REA Trading and Centum, but its bid fell almost on arrival because of late bid submission.

After a push and pull between REA Trading and Centum, the two potential suitors settled their differences by agreeing to slightly break up Rea Vipingo. Centum dropped its takeover bid for Rea Vipingo and instead agreed to acquire some of Rea Vipingo’s assets – 10,546 acres of prime land at Sh2 million.

Rea Vipingo Plantations Ltd (NSE:REA) formally ended its trading on NSE on September 17.

The exit of Rea Vipingo leaves NSE with only six notable agricultural stocks, namely Limuru Tea Company Ltd (NSE:LIMT), Eaagads Ltd (NSE:EGAD) and Kapchorua Tea Company (NSE:KAPC). Others are Williamson Tea Kenya Ltd (NSE:WTK), Kakuzi Limited (NSE:KUKZ) and Sasini Tea and Coffee (NSE:SASN).