Mauritius-based Monarch Capital Limited has secured regulatory approval to acquire a controlling 60% stake in De La Rue Kenya EPZ Limited, marking a major ownership change at one of Kenya’s best-known security-printing operations.
The transaction transfers the shareholding previously held by Thomas De La Rue AG to Monarch Capital, while the Kenyan government will retain its existing 40% interest through the National Treasury. The deal has also been reported at approximately KSh400 million.
The ownership shift comes more than three years after De La Rue suspended banknote printing at its Ruaraka facility and after Kenya moved its banknote production contract to Germany’s Giesecke+Devrient.
Key Overview
- Monarch Capital has received approval to acquire 60% of De La Rue Kenya EPZ Limited.
- The Kenyan government will retain its 40% minority shareholding through the National Treasury.
- The controlling stake has been reported at approximately KSh400 million.
- The approval includes a condition requiring the incoming shareholder to retain at least 80% of the current workforce for one year after completion.
- De La Rue suspended banknote printing at Ruaraka in January 2023 after new orders from the Central Bank of Kenya dried up.
- Kenya later awarded a five-year banknote-printing contract to Giesecke+Devrient in 2024.
Monarch Capital Takes Majority Control
The Competition Authority of Kenya has approved the acquisition of a 60% shareholding in De La Rue Kenya by Monarch Capital, giving the Mauritius-based investment company majority control of the security-printing business.
The transaction involves the full 60% interest previously held by Thomas De La Rue AG, a subsidiary of the wider De La Rue group. Kenya’s National Treasury will continue holding the remaining 40%, meaning the government retains a significant minority position despite the change in private ownership.
The controlling stake has been reported at approximately KSh400 million, making the transaction notable not only for the ownership change but also for the strategic value of the Ruaraka operation and its long history in secure printing.
The regulatory clearance was published through Gazette Notice No. 15919 under the Competition Act. As part of the approval, Monarch Capital is required to retain at least 80% of the existing workforce for one year following completion of the transaction.
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Kenya Keeps a Strategic 40% Stake
The government’s decision to retain its 40% stake preserves public-sector participation in a company that has historically handled highly sensitive security-printing work.
Kenya first acquired the stake in 2017, creating a joint-venture structure with De La Rue. The ownership arrangement remained in place even after the company stopped printing Kenyan banknotes.
The Ruaraka facility itself has deep roots in the country’s currency system. De La Rue and its predecessor businesses supplied Kenyan banknotes from 1966, while a dedicated Ruaraka printing facility was established in 1992.
The site subsequently printed several generations of Kenyan banknotes, including the 2019 series, before currency production ended in early 2023.
Banknote Printing Ended After Orders Dried Up
De La Rue suspended its Kenyan banknote-printing operations in January 2023 after concluding that it did not expect new orders from the Central Bank of Kenya for a considerable period.
The company’s own financial disclosures confirmed that the Kenyan operation suspended banknote production because of weaker demand and the absence of anticipated new central-bank orders.
That decision brought an end to decades in which De La Rue had been closely associated with the production of Kenya’s currency and triggered substantial restructuring costs linked to redundancies and asset impairments.
The Kenyan authorities subsequently selected another supplier. In April 2024, the central bank awarded Germany’s Giesecke+Devrient a five-year banknote-printing contract reportedly worth about KSh14.1 billion.
This means Monarch Capital is acquiring the Kenyan business at a time when its future is no longer centred on the banknote-printing contract that historically underpinned the Ruaraka operation.
New Ownership Could Reshape the Ruaraka Business
The ownership change raises an important question over what role the Ruaraka facility will play under Monarch Capital.
While the company retains specialised printing infrastructure and expertise, there has been no confirmed announcement that banknote production will restart. Instead, future opportunities could come from other forms of secure printing and specialised government documents, depending on contracts secured by the business.
The corporate transition has already been accompanied by changes at board level. Former Safaricom chief executive Michael Joseph was among the new directors appointed during the ownership restructuring, alongside other new board members.
For Monarch Capital, the acquisition provides control of an established Kenyan industrial asset with decades of security-printing experience. For the government, retaining 40% maintains a direct interest in the business while transferring operational control to a new private majority shareholder.
The transaction therefore marks a significant shift for De La Rue Kenya: from a long-standing banknote printer dominated by its international parent to a majority Mauritius-owned company whose next phase will depend on how successfully it repurposes its Ruaraka capabilities.
Sources used: Business Daily / Central Bank of Kenya / De La Rue / Mjengo Hub / People Daily
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