Reports indicate that David Muita has completed a Management-Buyout of the Kenyan arm of MacMillan UK, bringing his stake up to 97%, and valuing the company at ~ 217.4MM.

The firm will now carry on as 'Moran Publishers' and is supposedly planning:
(1) regional expansion (starting w/S.Sudan & Ethiopia)
(2) an online presence and,
(3) e-publishing
as key growth areas from hereon.... trends that were not exactly key to the UK parent's 'subsidiary-strategy'.

It should be interesting to watch how this unfolds and what this means for the company. There are several success stories on record for printing/publishing MBO's.


The advantage an MBO offers is autonomy* for management to run the company as they see fit. One would imagine management is experienced enough to effectively restructure & cut costs; what with the principal-agent problem effectively 'solved'.

Management will also desire to maximize financial benefit if a turn-around is successful....with private placements and/or an IPO as exit options.

Managers will, for obvious reasons, also be watching his progress with a keen eye.

Macmillan is a household name with it's atlas(es?), dictionaries and workbooks forming the bulk of back-to-school spending.

Centum (CENTUM:KN) owns(ed?) a stake in competitor Longhorn Publishers