Centum Investment Business Model and Ownership Structure

You often hear hear about Centum Investment in business news regularly, but do you really know what the company does? If you want to invest like a pro, it helps to know how a company, in this case Centum, operates and how it makes money.

Centum has been in business since 1967 when it was founded. It is officially known as Centum Investment Company PLC. Centum stock got listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange in 1997. The stock trades under the “CTUM” ticker symbol. Centum stock is also listed on the Uganda Stock Exchange. The company is based in Kenya but has footprints across Africa.

What does Centum do and how does it make money?

Centum is an investment company. What does that mean? You might ask. It means exactly what it says. The company identifies promising businesses and invests in them. It can invest in the business by acquiring shares in it or giving it a loan.

When it buys shares in a business, Centum may make money from dividend payments. It also makes money when it sells its shares in the business to exit the investment. When it provides a loan to a business, Centum makes money from the interest on the loan. Centum can make both share and loan investments in the same business.

When Centum invests in shares of another company, it works to improve its operational efficiency to cut costs and increase profitability. It also seeks to expand the market for the businesses it has invested in.

Centum’s business model

Centum invests in both public and private companies across a diverse range of sectors. It has investments in sectors such as real estate, power production, food processing and financial services.

Centum’s investments are organised into three main divisions.

• Real estate: This division is focused on developing real estate properties and providing real estate services. Centum’s real estate assets include the Two Rivers complex that includes a mall, office blocks, a theme park and residential apartments.
• Private equity: This division invests in shares of public and private companies in diverse industries. Centum’s private equity investments include Sidian Bank, Longhorn Publishers, Isuzu, Akiira Geothermal and NAS Servair.
• Marketable securities: This division invests in bonds issued by governments and companies. Centum invests in bonds issued by local and foreign entities. For example, the company has invested in Eurobonds.

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Who owns Centum?

If you’re the inquisitive type, you might want to know who really owns Centum. As a listed company, Centum has many owners. But those owners have varying strengths in the company. These are Centum’s top 3 shareholders as of 2023:

Centum’s shareholder register consists of local and foreign individuals and companies. The majority of Centum shareholders are individuals. Local individual investors make up more than 60% of Centum shareholders.

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