Centum taps real estate expert to its board

Centum Investment has appointed Dr Laila Macharia, the CEO of real estate-focused property fund, Africa Metro Properties, to its board. Photo/FILE 

By OKUTTAH MARK

In Summary

• The investment firm said it has appointed Dr Laila Macharia, the CEO of real estate-focused property fund, Africa Metro Properties, to its board.
• Dr Macharia, who holds a doctorate in law from the Stanford law School, is the wife of former head of Vision 2030 Mugo Kibati and has raised over $300 million (Sh25.5 billion) for real estate investments over the past six years.

Centum Investment has deepened the appointment of private equity executives to its board as the firm seeks deals outside Kenya and looks to real estate for growth.

The investment firm said it has appointed Dr Laila Macharia, the CEO of real estate-focused property fund, Africa Metro Properties, to its board.

Dr Macharia, who holds a doctorate in law from the Stanford law School, is the wife of former head of Vision 2030 Mugo Kibati and has raised over $300 million (Sh25.5 billion) for real estate investments over the past six years.

She is replacing investment banker Maina Mwangi, who was appointed director of Centum in 2010 and he is said not to have sought re-election at the end of his three-year term.

Disposable incomes

Dr Macharia will join a board of PE experts including Robert Bunyi and Imtiaz Khan.

Mr Bunyi is the founder of Mavuno Capital and has worked with Renaissance while Imtiaz Khan is the founder of corporate finance advisory firm Cassia Capital Partners Ltd.

The board changes come in a year Centum has plans to invest up to Sh2 billion in real estate, an increase of up to Sh500 million on last year.

Construction has been one of East Africa’s fastest growing sectors over the last decade, fuelled by a burgeoning middle class with higher disposable incomes and the pouring of billions of shillings in real estate by high-net worth investors.

Returns on investment in the sector have outpaced those of equities and government securities.

It has a portfolio of about Sh20 billion invested across assets in listed firms, private equity and real estate in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria and Ghana.

Real estate

Centum operates a real estate and infrastructure firm — Athena Properties — that is constructing a mall in Kenya and is developing properties on the shore of Lake Victoria in Uganda.

The firm invested Sh1.5 billion in property last year, with real estate now accounting for nearly 30 per cent of its total assets.

The firm in 2010 froze dividend payments, citing the need to make further investments in the business with shareholders expected to make capital gains. Its share is the best performing at the NSE over the past year, gaining 121 per cent over the period to trade at Sh30 Wednesday.

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