Centum Investment Company Plc, commonly known as Centum is a public

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

investment company An investment company is a financial institution principally engaged in holding, managing and investing securities. These companies in the United States are regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and must be registered under th ...

. It operates as an affiliate of the

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

n government-owned Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC).

Overview

Centum is a publicly owned investment company with headquarters in

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

, Kenya. Its shares are listed on the

Nairobi Securities Exchange The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) was established in 1954 as the Nairobi Stock Exchange, based in Nairobi the capital of Kenya. It was a voluntary association of stockbrokers in the European community registered under the Societies Act in ...

(NSE), where they trade under the symbol ''CTUM''. The company shares are also cross-listed on the

Uganda Securities Exchange The Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) is the principal stock exchange of Uganda. It was founded in June 1997. The USE is operated under the jurisdiction of Uganda's Capital Markets Authority, which in turn reports to the Bank of Uganda, Uganda's ...

(USE), where they trade under the symbol "CENT". Centum is an investment channel providing investors access to a portfolio of inaccessible, quality, diversified investments. Centum's mission is to create real, tangible wealth by providing the channel through which investors access and build extraordinary enterprises in Africa. As of March 2024 Centum's total assets were KSh 48,083,000,000 (US$371,230,000) with shareholder's equity of KSh41,042,000,000 (US$316,927,000).

History

ICDC was founded in 1954 as a government

parastatal A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

, whose primary objective was to provide a vehicle for Kenyans to invest in the economy of newly independent Kenya by investing in Kenyan companies. In 1967, ICDC formed the subsidiary ICDC Investment Company Limited, whose shares were listed on the NSE. In 1998, with the

Government of Kenya The Government of the Republic of Kenya (GoK) is the Central government, national government of the Kenya, Republic of Kenya located in East Africa. It is composed of Counties of Kenya, 47 Counties, each county with its own semi-autonomous gove ...

having sold some of its majority shareholding, ICDC Investment Company adopted a new management structure, handing over day-to-day management to an independent professional managerial team, supervised by an independent board of directors elected by the shareholders. In 2008, the shareholders changed the name of the company to Centum Investment Company Limited. The shares of Centum Investment Company Limited have been publicly traded on the NSE since 1967 and on the USE since 10 February 2011. Over time, Centum's strategy has evolved in line with the company's growth with Centum currently in its 2014 – 2019 strategic period dubbed "Centum 3.0". Under Centum 3.0, the company maintains focus through 4 distinct business lines namely Real Estate, Private Equity, Development and Marketable Securities.

Investment overview

Centum's investments are organised into four key verticals:

Growth portfolio

This division is involved in real estate development in Kenya and Uganda, with an eye to expanding into other countries in the African Great Lakes region. These include:
Centum Real Estate
– 100 percent shareholding – A real estate management, ownership, and development company. Centum RE has approximately 2,113 units in its project’s portfolio spread out across Vipingo (Kilifi, Kenya), Nairobi (Kenya) and Pearl Marina (Uganda) and 89% of these had been sold as of 31 March 2024. During the year ended 31 March 2024, the company recognized revenue from 290 units (FY 2023: 222 units) and booked revenue of Ksh 3.7 Bn (FY 2023: Ksh 1.9 Bn). Centum Real Estate's portfolio comprises Two Rivers Duplexes, The Loft, Riverbank, Cascadia Apartments, 26 Mzizi Court Apartments and 265 Elmer One Apartments. The company was recently recognized as a super brand and has won global accolades recognizing it as the top fastest growing company to watch in 2024.
Vipingo Development
– 100 percent shareholding – 10,254-acre development off the Kenyan coast. Vipingo Development offers a diverse range of investment opportunities. These include residential homes, fully serviced residential and industrial plots, as well as enticing prospects in commercial, hospitality and institutional sectors. The development features key urban infrastructure, including a 3 Million Litre Capacity per Day Sea Water Desalination Plant & an On-Site Power Substation. Vipingo Development's portfolio comprises of Awali Estate Phases 1 & 2, 1255 Palm Ridge Phases 1 & 2 and Kingswood Par
Vipingo homes
On 5 December 2024, Vipingo land was granted a permit to operate as a Special Economic Zone
Pearl Marina
– 100 percent shareholding – 389-acre development located in Ntabo Peninsula, popularly known as Garuga, by the shores of Lake Victoria in Uganda. The estate offers residential, recreational, social and retail facilities. Pearl Marina's portfolio comprises of Bellavista Apartments, Mirabella Residences, Springfield Apartments, La Perla Bungalows, Riviera Residence and Kingswood Park.

Private equity portfolio

Centum Capital Partners (CCAP)

Centum Capital Partners (CCAP) is a wholly owned, independently managed subsidiary of Centum and a private equity fund manager and currently manages Centum’s private equity assets with an additional mandate to manage any new private equity funds and third-party capital alongside Centum’s own capital. This division acquires equity positions in either publicly or non-publicly traded companies, mainly in the

African Great Lakes The African Great Lakes (; ) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. The series includes Lake Victoria, the second-largest freshwater lake in the world by area; Lake Tangan ...

region, but increasingly in other parts of the continent as well. Investments under this segment include the publishing, financial services and utilities businesses. Per its March 2024 annual report, these included: * Longhorn Publishers – 62 percent shareholding – A

publishing company Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

listed on the

with subsidiaries in Kenya,

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

and

DRC The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

and distribution in

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

and

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

. Products and services by Longhorn Publishers include, Longhorn Publishers, and Longhorn Language Services.
Greenblade Growers
- 100 percent shareholding - This business is involved in the production and export to Europe and the US of premium herbs such as fine beans chives, basil, mint, taragon, rosemary, chervil and thyme.
Tribus Security Group
- 80 percent shareholding - An internationally accredited company and is the security arm of the Centum Investment Group. Tribus operates businesses along 4 main verticals: Facility Management, Cybersecurity and Technical, Training and Manufacturing.
Tier Data
- 100 percent shareholding - An IT firm that provides outsourced IT services, ICT infrastructure and software solutions for medium-sized businesses.

Others

Isuzu East Africa
- A motor vehicle retailer in Kenya and the local subsidiary of American-based

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

.
Sidian Bank
- A full-service commercial bank, providing an array of financial services to individuals and enterprises. In FY24, Centum Investment concluded a partial exit of their equity interest in Sidian bank where they sold 43% of their shareholding in the bank. As at March 2024, they held a c. 40% equity interest in the Bank.
NAS Servair
– An on-site airport catering facility supplying over 30 International airlines that fly into and out of the

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is an international airport serving Nairobi, the capital and largest city of Kenya. The other three important international airports in Kenya include Kisumu International Airport, Moi International Airport a ...

and

Moi International Airport Moi International Airport is an international airport in Mombasa, the second-largest city in Kenya. In 2020, the airport was heralded as the "Best Airport in Africa" (with under 2 million passengers annually) by Airports Council International ...

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital status in 1907. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

Marketable securities portfolio

The Marketable Securities Portfolio comprises investments in securities and fixed income instruments managed b
Nabo Capital
Nabo Capital Limited (Nabo) is entrusted by Centum Investment Company PLC (Centum) with a dual mandate of capital preservation and delivering asymmetric risk adjusted returns on its Marketable Securities Portfolio (MSP) while maintaining operational liquidity. According to the FY24 Performance Review, The portfolio generated solid mean returns of 13.0% despite significant macroeconomic challenges. The portfolio outperformed the local Kenyan index (NSE), the Pan-African index (MSCI) and the Bloomberg Africa Bond Index by 5.0%, 19.9% and 23.5%, respectively Nabo Capital was named Best Asset Manager Africa 2025 by the Global Business & Finance Magazine

Development portfolio

This represents investments that are still under development. the development portfolio consists of
Two Rivers International Finance and Innovation Centre (TRIFIC)
- 80.5 percent shareholding - The only services-focused Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Kenya, offering new and exciting prospects for global, regional and Kenyan service-oriented business enterprises seeking a competitive and advantageous base to access international markets. TRIFIC spans over 64 acres within Nairobi’s prestigious diplomatic blue zone a further robust development capacity of 1.2 million square meters. TRIFIC is a member of the prestigious World Alliance of International Financial Centers * Akiira Geothermal Limited – 53 percent shareholding – The first private sector greenfield geothermal development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Akiira is Centum Investment's investment vehicle in the energy sector that is looking to set up an initial 140MW geothermal powerplant, within the Greater Olkaria Geothermal Area. Akiira has access to a concession area covering up to 480 sqkm and has completed the exploration stage of project development.
Jafari Credit
- 100 percent shareholding - A non-deposit taking microfinance company that offers long term credit to civil servants employed by both the National and County Governments. Currently, the company has 24 branches and since inception in Q3’2021 to end of FY24, the company had disbursed Ksh 466Mn in loans.

Former investments

*In 2014, Centum exited two investment funds

Helios In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; ; Homeric Greek: ) is the god who personification, personifies the Sun. His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyperion ("the one above") an ...

and Nigeria-based African Capital Alliance where total investments were valued at KShs 500 million. *

Rift Valley Railways Rift Valley Railways (RVR) was a consortium established to manage the parastatal railways of Kenya Railways, Kenya and Uganda Railways Corporation, Uganda. The consortium won the bid for private management of the century-old Uganda Railway in 2 ...

– 10 percent shareholding previously held – A

consortium A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...

that was established in 2005 to manage the

Uganda Railway The Uganda Railway was a metre-gauge railway system and former British state-owned railway company. The line linked the interiors of Uganda and Kenya with the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa in Kenya. After a series of mergers and splits, the lin ...

railways of Kenya and Uganda. This investment was exited in 2012 to Qalaa Holdings. *

UAP Holdings Old Mutual Holdings Plc, Formally known as UAP Holdings Limited, is an investment, retirement, and insurance group that operates mainly in Eastern Africa. UAP Holdings is one of the leading insurance and financial services groups in eastern Afric ...

– 14 percent shareholding previously held – An investment, retirement, and insurance services group that operates mainly in

. Centum exited this investment in 2015 through a direct sale to

Old Mutual Old Mutual (officially Old Mutual Limited) is a South African investment, savings, insurance, and banking group, operating across Africa. It is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, the Namibian Stock Exchan ...

. *

Kenya Wine Agencies Limited Kenya Wine Agencies Limited (KWAL), is a first line manufacturer, importer and distributor of wine, spirits and non-alcoholic beverages History The company was founded in 1969 by the Government of Kenya, to consolidate and streamline the impor ...

– 26 percent shareholding previously held – A leading manufacturer, distributor, and importer of wines and spirits in East Africa. This investment exited this investment in 2017 through a direct sale to

Distell Distell Group Limited, commonly referred to as Distell, was a multinational brewing and beverage company, based in South Africa. On April 26, 2023, Distell was acquired by Heineken. After that, its operations were integrated into Heineken Beve ...

. * Carbacid Investments – 22 percent shareholding previously held – A manufacturer and marketer of

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

gas for industrial and medical use as well as

dry ice Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide. It is commonly used for temporary refrigeration as CO2 does not have a liquid state at normal atmospheric pressure and Sublimation (phase transition), sublimes directly from the solid state to the gas ...

. This investment ended in 2011.
GenAfrica Asset Managers
– 73.4 percent shareholding – The second largest fund manager in Kenya. This investment was exited in 2018. * Aon Insurance Brokers – 22 percent shareholding – An insurance brokerage and consulting services company and the Kenyan subsidiary of

Aon Plc Aon plc () is a British-American professional services firm that offers a range of risk-mitigation products. Aon has over 66,000 employees across 120 countries. Founded in Chicago by Patrick Ryan, Aon was created in 1982 when the Ryan Insuran ...

.This investment was exited in 2016. *Platcorp Holdings – Owner of Platinum Credit. 45 percent shareholding. A short term financing company with subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. This investment was exited in 2018. * Almasi Beverages Limited – 53.8 percent shareholding – The second largest

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

bottling franchise in Kenya. * Nairobi Bottlers – 27.6 percent shareholding – The largest of the Coca-Cola franchises in Kenya. *King Beverage Limited – 100 percent shareholding – Sole distributor for Danish beer manufacturer

Carlsberg Carlsberg may refer to: Places * Carlsberg (district), a district in Copenhagen, Denmark ** Carlsberg station, its train station * Carlsberg, Germany, a municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany * Carlsberg Fjord, Greenland Other uses * Carlsbe ...

brands and select

Edrington Edrington is a medieval estate occupying the lower part of Mordington parish in Berwickshire, Scotland, west of Berwick-upon-Tweed. From probably the 14th century, if not earlier, a castle occupied the steep hill above the mill of the sam ...

Products and Grays spirits in Kenya. *

Sidian Bank Sidian Bank, formerly known as K-Rep Bank, is a commercial bank in Kenya, licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya, the national banking regulator. Location The headquarters of Sidian Bank are located at K-Rep Centre, on Wood Avenue, in Kilimani ...

– 77 percent shareholding – A

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make a profit. It can also refer to a bank or a division of a larger bank that deals with whol ...

in Kenya, licensed by the

Central Bank of Kenya The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) () is the monetary authority of Kenya. Its head office is located in Nairobi. CBK was founded by in 1966 after the dissolution of East African Currency Board (EACB). Dr. Kamau Thugge, CBS is the current Governor a ...

, the national banking regulator. The bank was sold to

Access Bank Group Access Bank Group is a financial services conglomerate, headquartered in Nigeria, with subsidiaries in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, The Gambia, Guinea, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Malta, ...

of Nigeria in June 2022, for US$37 million and merged into

Access Bank Kenya Access Bank Kenya (ABK), whose complete name is Access Bank (Kenya) PLC, formerly Transnational Bank Kenya PLC, is a commercial bank in Kenya. It is licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of Kenya, the national banking regulator. History T ...

References

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External links

Official website
Companies based in Nairobi Conglomerate companies of Kenya Financial services companies established in 1967 Companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange Companies listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange Kenyan companies established in 1967