Marshalls East Africa has earned Sh824 million.[Photo/Businessdaily]Marshalls East Africa a company that was delisted from the Nairobi Securities Exchange in 2017 has earned Sh824 million from the sale of its 50 per cent stake in Mombasa-based Associated Vehicle Assemblers (AVA) to the Simba Corporation.
An anonymous source told the Business Daily that the deal had just been concluded hence giving Simba full ownership of the assembler.
The parties involved had not disclosed how much the deal entailed when the announcement was made.
“Marshalls was paid $8 million (Sh824 million) for the 50 per cent AVA stake,” the source said.
The amount is a windfall for shareholders who decided to remain in the struggling company even after it went private.
Marshalls, which now sells a few KIA cars in a year, said it decided to delist in order to gain time and flexibility to reorganise its business effectively.
Marshalls said it would also benefit from elimination of costs associated with maintaining a listing on the Nairobi bourse.
Prior to going private, the company told shareholders their rights will remain the same “including participation in any future dividends declared by the company.”
One of Marshalls’ significant shareholders, Global Limited, had offered to buy out minority shareholders on a voluntary basis ahead of the stock market exit.
Marshalls has been having financial struggles since they lost the Peugeot franchise deal in 2007, with sales plummeting to less than Sh100 million in recent years.