21 March 2018
Centum Investment Company Plc (“Centum”) is pleased to announce the completion of sale of its 25% stake in Platcorp Holdings Limited (“Platcorp”) to Suzerain Investment Holdings Limited, a consortium of Platcorp’s management team (“Management”) and an existing shareholder.
Platcorp is the holding company of Platinum Credit, a non-banking, non-deposit taking microfinance institution which provides emergency loans to customers and has operations in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
Centum invested in Platcorp Holdings in December 2012 acquiring a 36% shareholding through its vehicle, Kilele Holdings Limited. In March 2017, Centum sold part of its stake in Platcorp holdings and has completed the sale of the balance of its stake in the business in March 2018.
Since the initial investment, the Platcorp Group has expanded having established Premier Credit, a credit only microfinance with presence in Kenya and Uganda that offers loans to individual, small and medium-sized businesses to cater for unforeseen immediate working capital needs.
“The sale of our shareholding in Platcorp is in line with the Centum Centum 3.0 Strategy of creating quality investment grade opportunities. Through this transaction, we have created tangible wealth for our shareholders demonstrated by a 31% holding period internal rate of return on our investment” explained Dr. James Mworia, CEO, Centum Group. He further explained that “The sale of our stake will lead to increased management ownership of the business which is an affirmation of their continued confidence in the business. The proceeds from the sale will enable us to deploy capital in other investment opportunities in our pipeline across our various sectors of focus.”