Sasini Raises Share Capital to Sh300m

Sasini Tea and Coffee shareholders have voted to increase the company's share capital to Sh300 million from Sh200 million.

The company's extraordinary general meeting yesterday resolved to create a further 20 million ordinary shares, of Sh5 each.

Board director Naushad Merali said the creation of more shares was meant to expand the company's ownership.

"Once the share capital is increased we will broaden the shareholding," Mr Merali told the shareholders at the firm's Kamundu Estate in Kiambu, hinting that the company was exploring the possibility of issuing bonus shares.

"Before we used to export our tea and coffee and someone else would process it and bring it back here at a very high price, now we do everything from planting to packaging," he added.

The company has erected a Sh100 million-coffee mill, expected to be operational by the end of the month, at Kamundu Estate.

With active participation in the weekly Mombasa tea auction, Sasini supplies increasingly large volumes of tea to major global markets. Its two factories at Kipkebe and Keritor, have been refurbished, and machinery upgraded.