Kenya Airports body sees land at $10b on revaluation

Kenya Airports Authority expects its land holdings to be worth more than 1 trillion shillings ($9.9b) after a revaluation is concluded in a month, CEO Jonny Andersen said. “Since we’ll have a different balance sheet, we can go to the banks and ask for completely different financing because we’ll have so much value,” Andersen said. “It will completely change the balance sheet of KAA because we are valued at a completely different rate.” The state-owned agency last valued its 11,000 acres of land in the capital, Nairobi, in 2004 at 80m shillings, which is “putting KAA at a huge disadvantage,” Chairman Isaac Awuondo said Wednesday. The agency’s revenue was 15.9b shillings in the 12 months through June 2017, about 80% of which was from Kenya’s biggest airport in Nairobi. The facility has lost market share to neighboring rival Ethiopia Airlines Group, which has invested in a new fleet and expanded the main airport in Addis Ababa into a regional hub. KAA will have to invest in the Nairobi hub to stem the loss in market share, which now stands at 34% of regional traffic, from 47% in 2013, Andersen said.<br/>