Kenya’s Foreign Affairs minister Sam Ongeri is among the top 10 individual shareholders at book publishing firm Longhorn Kenya, and is set to benefit from its listing May 30, 2012, since they will now be able to trade their shares.

Prof Ongeri who up to March this year was the Education minister, holds a 1.7 per cent stake at the book publishing firm

His shareholding is valued at Ksh14 million ($162, 790), according to the information memorandum released on May 28, ahead of the listing at the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

Francis Nyammo, the current Member of Parliament for Tetu is the single largest shareholder in Longhorn, owning 10 per cent directly and a further 23 per cent through Pacific Futures and Options Ltd. Nyammo's shareholding is valued about Ksh 250 million ($2.9 million).

(Read: Longhorn Kenya publishers' top 20 shareholders)

Longhorn, which generates 65 per cent of its revenues from selling books to primary schools, will list 58.5 million shares at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) by introduction, placing the value of the company at Ksh819 million ($9.23 million). The book publishers’ shares will beginning trading at Ksh14 ($0.16) per share.

Prof Ongeri said he became a shareholder in Longman, the UK publisher, in the early ‘80s when the publisher raised cash from individual shareholders in a private offer.

Longman exited the Kenyan market, selling its business to Longhorn. Individuals such as Prof Ongeri who were shareholders in Longman received Longhorn shares in exchange.

Listing by introduction means the company doesn’t issue any new shares but rather, allows existing shareholders to unlock the value of their shares through selling to the public.

However, the top three shareholders, who collectively control 69.8 per cent of the company, cannot reduce their shares to less than 51 per cent for the next two years.

Centum, the NSE listed investment company is the largest shareholder with a 34.9 per cent stake at Longhorn while Mr Nyammo controls 33 per cent.

Longhorn’s profit grew by almost sevenfold in the year ending June 2011 to Ksh136 million ($1.6 million), from Ksh21 million ($247,059) in 2010 on the back of a steep rise in turnover attributed to huge export sales in Rwanda.

The book publisher’s turnover rose from Ksh526 million ($6.18million) in 2010 to Ksh1.1billion ($12.9 million) in 2011.