Developing Story : The Buyout of Qalaa Holding Majority Stake In RVR

News & Politics
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Jana business daily ran with this story


[SIZE=5]Ex-State House man Murage leads Sh13bn bid to buy RVR[/SIZE][SIZE=4][/SIZE][SIZE=4]

[SIZE=6]"[/SIZE][SIZE=4]Former State House operative Stanley Murage is leading a consortium of investors who are negotiating to acquire an 80 per cent stake in troubled Rift Valley Railways (RVR) for Sh13.3 billion.

[I]The stake, which is currently held by Cairo-based Qalaa Holding, has been on sale since mid-last year when prospective buyers were invited to place bids.

It was not immediately clear why Qalaa, which is exiting to cut the multi-billion-shilling losses it has incurred since investing in the railway operator in 2010, is not selling its entire stake in in the Kenya-Uganda railway concession.

Project management firm Armstrong & Duncan, which is chaired by Mr Murage, is one of the four companies making up the consortium that has taken the pole position in the race to acquire the stake.

Others are petroleum distributor Rubix Energy, logistics firm Shreeji Enterprises and South Africa state-owned railway firm Transnet Engineering, which had not confirmed its participation by end of last week.

The consortium is betting on a multipronged strategy to turn around the loss-making RVR, including funnelling their existing customers to use the railway operator’s services as well as expectation that some of the crude oil coming from the region’s wells will come through.[SIZE=6]"[/SIZE][/I][/SIZE][/SIZE]

[SIZE=4]and today this was the lead

[/SIZE]
[SIZE=5][SIZE=6]World Bank unearths massive fraud at RVR[/SIZE][SIZE=4][/SIZE][/SIZE][SIZE=5][SIZE=4][/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=5][SIZE=4][/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=6]"[/SIZE][SIZE=4]Top Rift Valley Railway (RVR) managers conspired to defraud lenders and the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) millions of shillings and left the company in a worse financial position, the World Bank says in an ethics audit report that warns of possible sanctions on the rail firm.

The governance health check was prompted by a $22 million (Sh2.2 billion) loan that the International Finance Corporation (IFC) – the World Bank Group’s private sector arm – extended to RVR in support of the company’s planned purchase of 20 locomotives for its flagging operations in 2014 and 2015.

The audit found that RVR executives bribed public officials, manipulated accounts and created convoluted ownership and operational structures with the aim of defrauding lenders, including IFC.[COLOR=rgb(0, 51, 102)][SIZE=6]"[/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=4][COLOR=rgb(0, 51, 102)][SIZE=6][/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=4]Its clear business daily is doing some negative PR spin on Qalaa, hii story ya world bank audit broke six months ago, why they chose to headline their online edition with it sielewi.Wacha tuone mahali itaenda[/SIZE]

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Ati Statehouse operative ? By 2021 99% of Kenyan GDP will be in the hands of a certain family from Thika

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Work hard my friend and don’t complain. Wezi wako kila mahali hii nchi.

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You conveniently did not see the Ex. I expect your general knowledge would have saved you the ignominy of looking like a cheap spin-star…

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I’m not complaining. I work hard for mine. But short of a miracle I’ll never compete with Gatondo royalty.

I don’t have a credibility to shield. I’m cheap cheap spinstar.

When it comes to the royalty.

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In kenya working hard is not enough.
You need to be in the right family,know certain people,and be unethical.

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Some national assets need to be held in state by locals…or risk selling the whole country to foreigners like they almost did with land in lamu province

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I would imagine any entity wishing to purchase a share in such a high profile operation would need an insider. Otherwise your proposal will land on deaf ears. It’s a lot more than about money for the Railway Corp.

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so, what do you hope to achieve with the cheap spinning; hatred for the people you despise? to what end? aren’t you worried about the loss of your credibility?

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i can’t agree with you more that some national assets need to be held by the State but my beef is with @Mjuaji 's ignoring the fact that Murage has long left State House and trying to insinuate…blah blah…

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If you spend everyday ranting then justification has to be created whether real or imaginary.

RVR is not a state body but a private company. They don’t own the lunatic rail track but lease it from Kenya Railways. No one has ever made a profit on the lunatic express from colonial britain, Kenya Railways, sheltam and now RVR. Even Transcentury who invested billions to buy 30% shareholding left RVR with a loss of a billion. That is why it’s a huge gamble to buy into RVR where everyone has failed. The cost of operations is very high, volumes moved is very low and only 12 years of lease left. Unless they are buying in now to sell later to a global railway giant who can upgrade the whole truck to SGR and negotiate for a lease extension which will be hard.

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I blocked a few city hall way types, the vitriol being spewed here based on false premises but wholly accepted by that crowd since it fits into their narrative.

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Train siku hizi hazifiki Nanyuki.There was time they were ferrying passengers from Nairobi to Nanyuki.

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The murdered one, is far from Uhuru. Huyo mtafute Nyeri and the environs.

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Me too. They are unbearable.