AccessKenya, the Internet Service provider, could soon delist from the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), if shareholders give the nod at an extraordinary general meeting expected in the next seven weeks.

A yes vote will bring the number of listed companies on the NSE to 60.

Unilever Kenya Ltd was the last firm to exit from the bourse in January 2009, after its shareholders passed a special resolution to delist, after Unilever Plc through its subsidiary Brooke Bond Group acquired 11.8 per cent shares held by minority shareholders in the tea company.

AccessKenya, which has been trading on the NSE for the past six years, faces similar circumstances.

In May, the firm received a proposal from South Africa-based Dimension Data Plc, which is owned by Japanese firm NTT Group, to buy it for Ksh3.05 billion ($36.4 million).

“Being a public company, if someone puts a decent offer on the table you have a fiduciary duty and a responsibility to put it to the shareholders and that is what we have done,” said Jonathan Somen, AccessKenya’s managing director in an interview with NTV last week.

Mr Somen, who owns 37 million shares of the company or a 16.97 per cent stake, said that the business is performing well and they have found a company that has the expertise and funds to accelerate its growth.

“We listed for the same reason…because of the opportunity in the ICT sector in Kenya at the time. We felt it was time to list and raise capital to build our fibre network and roll out new services. This is the next iteration to accelerate the business,” he said.

According to AccessKenya’s disclosure document on the offer, if 90 per cent or more of the Internet service provider’s shareholders accept the deal, in which they are being offered Ksh14 ($0.17) per share, the offer will be declared unconditional, and the company will cease to be a publicly-listed company.

Read: Somen's set to make $11 million through AccessKenya sale

Dimension Data was also delisted from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange after it was taken over by NTT Group.

AccessKenya’s takeover bid came after it posted a 38.77 per cent increase in profit after tax to Ksh151.3 million ($1.7 million) for the period ended December 2012 from Ksh109 million ($1.2 million) in December 2011.

The Internet service provider’s shares, which were listed on the NSE in June 2007 at Ksh10 ($0.15), were the second best performing in the region as at the close of the first half of this year.

AccessKenya’s share price had more than doubled to Ksh9.55 ($0.11) from Ksh4.40 ($0.05) at the beginning of this year before it was suspended pending the outcome of the takeover bid.

Apart from Unilever Kenya, the NSE has seen at least seven other exits which include paper sack and carton maker East African Packaging Ltd, and British trading firm African Lakes Corporation which delisted from the bourse in 2003.

“In the early 1970’s, the total number of companies was about 72 and since then there have been some listings meaning that many have also gone and this is very normal globally,” said Job Kihumba, the executive director for corporate finance at Standard Investment Bank.

Mr Kihumba said that the performance of companies such as African Lakes Corporation and Elliots fell below the listing requirements leading to their exit while others such as TimSales were bought out and the new owners did not want them to remain public.

“Some companies will delist because they are not performing and listing requires some things to happen. Then there is the disclosures but a company can also delist because it has requested to delist as was the case with Unilever,” said Mr Kihumba.

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