Tanzanian billionaire buys NMG controlling shares: Everything we know

The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) has announced it will sell its controlling stake in Nation Media Group (NMG), ending a partnership that has shaped East Africa’s largest independent media house for more than six decades.

In a statement issued on March 10 from Geneva, AKFED said it had agreed to sell its entire shareholding in NPRT Holdings Africa Limited to Taarifa Ltd, owned by Rostam Azizi.

Aziz is a prominent businessman whose ventures span telecommunications, energy, mining and real estate. Aziz was named Tanzania’s first dollar billionaire by Forbes in 2013 and previously held a significant stake in Vodacom Tanzania before selling the shares in deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

He has also served as a Member of Parliament in Tanzania’s Igunga constituency from 1994 to 2011. Aziz also controls several companies, including Taifa Gas, one of East Africa’s largest liquefied petroleum gas suppliers.

In 2023, President William Ruto commissioned Taifa Gas’s LPG plant at the Dongo Kundu special economic zone in Mombasa County.

NPRT Holdings Africa Limited currently holds a 54.08% stake in Nation Media Group, equivalent to 92,618,177 ordinary shares, giving the buyer effective control of the Nairobi-listed media company.

Shares of Nation Media Group closed Tuesday’s trading session at Sh13.25 on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, giving NPRT Holdings Africa Limited’s 92,618,177 shares an estimated market value of about Sh1.23 billion.

The deal concludes AKFED’s 66-year association with Nation Media Group, which began in 1959 when the development arm of the Aga Khan Development Network invested in the region’s emerging independent press.

AKFED said the transition comes as Nation Media Group accelerates its digital transformation, with the incoming shareholder expected to support new investments in technology and audience growth.

According to the statement, Taarifa Ltd plans to help the media house expand its digital footprint and strengthen engagement with audiences while maintaining its tradition of public-interest journalism.

Nation Media Group traces its origins to the purchase of the Kiswahili newspaper Taifa Leo during the colonial era, aimed at creating an independent platform for African voices.

The company expanded with the launch of the Daily Nation on March 20, 1960, which quickly became one of the most influential newspapers in East Africa. By the time Kenya gained independence in 1963, the publication had already established itself as a major source of news and political analysis.

Over the years, the company evolved into a regional multimedia group operating more than 30 brands across four countries and reaching over 62 million digital users, while employing more than 1,000 staff across the region.

Nation Media Group was also among the first African media companies to list on a securities exchange, with its shares trading on the Nairobi Securities Exchange since 1973.

Throughout its history, the media house has played a prominent role in Kenya’s public life, including extensive coverage of the country’s transition to multiparty democracy in the 1990s and civic education around the 2010 Kenyan constitutional referendum.

AKFED Director Sultan Allana said the institution remains a key pillar of the region’s media landscape.

“AKFED is proud of its contribution to building one of Africa’s most respected media institutions,” Allana said. “We are confident NMG will continue to uphold the values of independent journalism and service to the public that have defined it for over six decades.”

Further details of the transaction, including regulatory approvals and completion timelines, were not immediately disclosed.