Businessman Balvinder Kishori Lal Sahni has acquired a majority shareholding in Securex Agencies Limited, a Kenyan firm that provides security services as well as equipment and accessories.

The additional stakes have been acquired through Securex Invstments Limited, which is majorly owned by Kishori Lal Sahni and whose investment portfolio is in property investment and management of real, personal, movable, and immovable property.

“The proposed transaction involves the acquisition of a controlling interest of the issued share capital of Securex by Mr. Balvinder Kishori through Securex Investments,” CAK said in a notice.

“Sections 2 and 41 of the Competition Act CAP 504 stipulates that a merger, or takeover, may occur when an undertaking directly or indirectly acquires control over another business within Kenya. This may happen through, among others, purchase/lease of shares, exchange of shares, vertical integration. The transaction therefore, qualified as a merger within the meaning of the aforementioned sections.”

Kenya is home to numerous private security firms that support the national security system with services.

The country has diverse private security firms dominated by local and international brands as well as big and small.

Data from the Private Security Regulatory Authority, which regulates the sector, shows that there were 763 licensed private security firms in the country as of February 2024.

G4S dominates the local market share with a 19 percent, followed by KK Security (13.05 percent), Security Group (six percent), and Patriotic (five percent).

Others are Well Fargo (five percent), BM Security (five percent), Riley Falcon (three percent), Securex (three percent), Radar (two percent), and others (38.95 percent).

“One criterion of assessing a merger’s impact on competition is the post-merger market share of the undertakings involved in the transaction. Post-transaction, the merged entity’s market share will not change since it is an acquisition of additional shareholding in the target by an existing shareholder,” CAK added.

“Further, the proposed transaction will not affect the structure and concentration of the market private security equipment and services. Additonally, the merged entity will face competition from other security firms controlling 97% of the market share.”

“Therefore, the proposed transaction is unlikely to lead to a substantial lessening of competition in the market private security equipment and services in Kenya.”