Lights out; lights on; counters cause price disruptions and threaten acquisitions

Return of Express Kenya onto the Nairobi Securities trading platform has raised questions about the fate of the takeover bid by CEO Hector Diniz

Three months ago Mr. Diniz offered to buy out ordinary shareholders as the real estate and logistics firm Express Kenya prepared to exit the NSE.

The NSE announced Tuesday in a notice that the suspension was lifted effective March 5, since its suspension on December 4.

In what may turn criticism to the Capital Markets Authority, this comes just a month after the confusion surrounding Unga group which was suspended but late reinstated with CMA claiming it had only halted trading.

The return of the stock on the market has also caused a reprising shock as the stock rose from Sh4.10 to Sh4.50.

In December Mr. Diniz, who owns shares in the company directly and through Etcoville Holdings Ltd, offered ordinary investors Sh5.50 for the shares that were trading at Sh3.75 with a total cap of Sh132.7 million.

Mr. Diniz wanted to take over the firm once he gets 28.36 percent of the shareholding.

Unga Group had a similar rally when it was brought back to the course where it is trading at Sh42.5 above the Sh40 offered by the American firm Seaboard. When the offer was made the shares were trading at Sh29.5.