Transaction advisers and other agencies facilitating the ongoing Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) initial public offering (IPO) are in line for a Sh3 billion fees windfall, highlighting the lucrative payday accruing to intermediaries who arrange large capital market deals.
The fees, to be paid from the government’s gross proceeds of Sh106.31 billion from the sale of a 65 percent stake in KPC, will be shared among a variety of firms, including receiving banks, stockbrokers, investment banks and a shares registrar.
Others are law firms, a reporting accountant, advertising and public relations agencies. The offeror will also pay listing and approval fees to the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) respectively.
For the KPC offer, the fees are equivalent to 2.8 percent of the IPO’s targeted amount of Sh106.31 billion. In the previous large State IPOs such as Safaricom and KenGen, issuance fees were between four and five percent of the proceeds.
The government is seeking to offload 11.81 billion KPC shares at a price of Sh9 per unit through the public offer. The IPO opened on Monday, and will close on February 19, 2026.
Disclosures in the IPO’s information memorandum show that stockbrokers and investment banks will take the bulk of the fees at Sh1.59 billion -in placement fees for processing the expected applications from thousands of their clients in their role as selling agents.
The fees paid per broker depend on the value of IPO shares they process, with the cumulative total capped by law at 1.5 percent of the offer size.
The issuer has enlisted 22 intermediaries to handle the sale, including Faida Investment Bank as the lead transaction adviser, Dyer and Blair Investment Bank as the lead sponsoring broker and Francis Drummond as co-sponsoring broker.
On top of its share of placement fees, Faida is being paid Sh98.6 million for leading the transaction, and will also be in line for more millions via a provision for a success fee of one percent plus 16 percent VAT on gross proceeds of funds raised in the IPO.
A success fee is a performance-based commission paid out to an underwriter or adviser upon the successful closing of a deal, incentivising them to market the transaction.
Dyer and Blair and Francis Drummond will meanwhile share Sh2.75 million as the sponsoring brokers, the disclosures show.
Image Registrars, which is acting as the data processing agent and registrar of the offer, is being paid a total of Sh70.35 million, of which Sh28.3 million is advisory fees and Sh42.05 million is reimbursable costs.
The offer has enlisted three receiving banks, which will be paid Sh16.35 million. The Co-operative Bank of Kenya will earn Sh9.96 million, KCB Bank Limited Sh3.6 million and Stanbic Bank Sh2.78 million.
The transaction’s legal advisers TripleOKLaw Advocates and G and A Advocates LLP will receive a fee of Sh31.9 million, while PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP will be paid Sh13.45 million as the reporting accountants for the IPO.