Government of Kenya Cabinet has approved the joint venture between the Government and British firm, De La Rue.
According to State House Kenya, the new arrangement will enable the Government acquire 40 per cent stake in De La Rue Kenya Limited (the currency printing firm) hence enabling the Government to earn revenue from the venture.
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As at May, De La Re had operations in 106 countries and was reported to have sold its struggling cash processing business to Privet Capital (a firm that makes money counting equipment and verifies cash authenticity) in a slightly over Sh1 billion deal in what it termed as streamlining.
This deal has been on the table for almost 10 years now,but its reported that the government was paying about Sh 1 Billion for the 40% stake, the money will in turn be injected into a new company to be set up for the purpose of the joint venture.
On November 25, De La Rue said it expects challenging market conditions for the next two years, after it reported a 37 per cent fall in pretax profits in the first half of its financial year.
Other countries who have huge stakes in De La Rue’s local units include Sir Lanka,with a 60% stake, Portugal with 25%; Nigeria with a controlling 77% of De La Rue Nigeria, Switzerland with 25% while UK has a 25% through its Central Bank.
