Kenyan sports betting operator SportPesa denies IPO reports

Kenya-based sports betting operator SportPesa is attempting to downplay reports that the company is prepping an initial public offering, but not everybody’s buying their denials.

On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that SportPesa was planning to list its shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange sometime in the first quarter of 2019. The report claimed SportPesa, which also holds gambling licenses in the UK and Italy, had appointed Kestrel Capital East Africa Ltd to advise on the IPO process.

On Thursday, SportPesa CEO Ronald Karauri attempted to poke holes in the Bloomberg report, responding with a simple “no” to a Reuters journalist who queried him as to the substance of the IPO report.

However, Reuters claimed that there had been some discussions between SportPesa and Kestrel Capital regarding a possible transaction of some kind. Kestrel Capital’s managing director Andre DeSimon declined to comment on either report.