Kenya on Monday launched the sale of a 65% stake in state-owned Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), paving the way for an initial public offering (IPO) expected to raise about $825 million, authorities said.
The subscription period opened at the start of trading, with shares priced at nine shillings ($0.07) each, according to offer documents. The sale will run until Feb. 19, with the shares scheduled to begin trading on the Nairobi Securities Exchange on March 9.
KPC operates Kenya’s fuel transportation and storage network and has assets across several East African countries, making it a critical component of the region’s energy infrastructure.
The IPO forms part of President William Ruto’s broader push to reduce state ownership in commercial enterprises as the government seeks new sources of domestic funding amid high public debt and limited scope to raise taxes. Officials say proceeds will help finance infrastructure projects, support the creation of sovereign wealth funds and reduce reliance on foreign borrowing.
Ruto has previously said the offer would be open to both local and foreign investors, with an emphasis on broad public participation. He has framed the IPO as a way for citizens to benefit directly from the performance of a profitable state-owned company.
The government will retain a significant minority stake in KPC to safeguard national interests. The transaction is also structured to attract regional investors, particularly from other East African countries, in line with Nairobi’s objective of strengthening cooperation on strategic energy infrastructure.
The KPC sale follows the government’s reduction of its stake in telecoms operator Safaricom in December 2025, which raised more than $2 billion.
While the IPO target is below an earlier plan announced in September 2025 to raise up to $1.15 billion, the transaction remains historic. It is set to surpass the 2008 Safaricom IPO, which raised about $388 million, to become Kenya’s largest equity offering in local-currency terms.
The listing comes amid a rebound in global equity capital markets. Worldwide equity issuance totalled $738.4 billion in 2025, up 15% year on year and the strongest performance in four years, according to LSEG data. Issuers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa accounted for just over one-fifth of the total.
The IPO will test investor appetite for large-scale listings on the Nairobi exchange and serve as a key gauge of confidence in the government’s privatisation drive and use of capital markets to finance the economy.
