Kenya cement company, Savannah Clinker, has withdrawn its $197.2 million bid to acquire Bamburi Cement following the arrest of its CEO, Benson Ndeta.
This clears the oath for Tanzania’s Amsons Group, which submitted a lower offer of $182 million.
According to local reports, Ndeta is facing eight charges including conspiracy to defraud $35 million loan from Absa Bank purporting to act on behalf of Savannah Cement Limited.
Savannah and the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) said the offer was withdrawn after the financier pulled out following Ndeta’s arrest.
“The withdrawal of the competing offer has been occasioned by the recent well-publicised arrest and indictment of the chairman and main shareholder of Savanna, which has led to the financier of the competing offer seeking additional due diligence, coupled with the decline by the CMA of a request made on December 2, 2024, to extend the offer period by 60 days to enable the competing offer to respond to any inquiries,” Savannah said.
Regulatory disclosures revealed that Savannah Clinker was backed by Global Infrastructure Finance and Development Authority Inc (GIFDA), a non-profit infrastructure projects financier.
Bamburi Cement is the largest manufacturer of cement in Eastern Africa, with its cement plant in Mombasa being the second largest cement plant in sub-Saharan Africa. This has given it the title of largest manufacturing export earner in Kenya.
