Kenya Pipeline Company Seeks IPO Advisory Services

It is all systems go as Kenya Pipeline Company(KPC) floats a tender for services of a transaction adviser, to set the ball rolling towards its Initial Public Offer, set for March 2026. The adviser will also oversea the activities of a Lead Sponsoring Stock Broker and Co-Sponsoring Stock Broker, Reporting Accountants, Legal Advisers, Advertising Agent, Public Relations Service providers, the Receiving Bank as well as the functions of a Share Registrar.

Coming soon after Parliament approved a sessional paper on the privatization of Kenya Pipeline Company this month, the Government is moving full steam ahead as the deadline for the Initial Public Offer(IPO) transaction of March 2026 beckons.

The 52-year old State-Owned Monopoly,, with a net profit of KSh 10 billion as at 30th June 2024, is one of the Government’s priceless family jewels. The state owns a 99.9% stake held by National Treasury while 0.1% of the pipeline firm is owned by the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum.

Apart from the domestic market, the pipeline run by KPC serves the neighbouring Uganda, Rwanda. Eastern DRC, Northern Tanzania, Burundi and South Sudan.

Kenya Pipeline Company: What it Owns

The State-owned firm owns 1,342 km of pipeline traversing the country from Mombasa to the hinterland, 884,000 cubic meters’ capacity storage facilities at 7 locations, 11 pump stations, 2 aviation hydrant refuelling facilities at the Jomo Kenyatta and Moi International Airports, 5 truck and rail loading facilities and 2 oil and gas marine terminals at Mombasa port and Lake Victoria in Kisumu.

According to a brief from the Privatization Commission, the KPC IPO will among others enable Kenyans to own a stake in a profitable state enterprise, improve its operational efficiency and raise cash needed to support development of critical infrastructure, while also reducing reliance on the national exchequer.

Market watchers maintain that the oil pipeline firm’s IPO will be an interesting and toxic cocktail of vested business interests blended with and a heavy dose of political influence peddling and acidic rhetoric.

A section of the political class is already threatening to proceed to court to block the planned sale of KPC, considered a national asset.

The Privatisation Commission has fixed March 31st, 2026 as the date by which the Government of Kenya should have divested a 65.0% stake from Kenya Pipeline Co.

The Commission, which is the implementing agency for Kenya’s Privatization Program, said the Lead Transaction Advisor will be responsible for coordinating the entire Kenya Pipeline IPO process, including overseeing all other advisors. The closing date for this tender is 21st October 2025.

Kenya Pipeline Corporation Financial Health

According to its 2024 Financial Statements, Kenya Pipeline made a Net profit of KSh 6,867,249,974 from KSh 4,499,427,944 in 2023. Its Revenues jumped to KSh 35.4 billion from KSh 30.9 billion in 2023 while the corporation’s Gross Profit hit KSh 10 billion from KSh 7.6 billion in 2023.

However, Kenya Pipeline Balance Sheet shrunk to KSh 120.7 billion in 2024 from KSh 128.9 billion in 2023 and KSh 129.8 billion in 2022.

The firm has been bleeding cash, to finance its acquisition of Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited (KPRL) as well as upgrade its old networks. The oil pipeline firm is banking on KPRL’s large tracks of land to use for future business expansion.
The upgrade of the flowrate in the Nairobi to Eldoret line (Line 4) is also ongoing to meet a surging demand for local consumers and exporters.

Initially covering Nairobi-Mombasa,  the state enterprise now runs a vast pipeline network that runs for 1,342 kilometres, connecting Mombasa to Nairobi and extending to Nakuru, Eldoret, and Kisumu.

KPC has been a game changer in Kenya’s energy sector, significantly reducing reliance on costly and inefficient fuel  transport by road.

Today, the corporation runs a robust and evolving petroleum infrastructure that drives Kenya’s industrial and economic growth engines.