CMA Publishes Draft Guidelines On Share Repurchase

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has published draft guidelines that will enable listed firms to buy back their shares from next year. The CMA is now inviting stakeholders and the general public to submit comments on the draft guidelines by July 31, 2020.

The Companies Act, 2015 (the Companies Act) brought in a substantive change to company law in Kenya by providing for share buybacks by companies in Kenya. The Companies Act initially permitted such repurchase of shares by both private and public companies. However, concerns were raised by the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and share buybacks for listed companies were put on hold.