NAIROBI, April 12 (Reuters) - Kenya's plan to sell stakes in several state-owned companies to raise funds to plug a hole in the budget is likely to slow down thanks to political jostling as next year's elections approach.
The government plans to sell its stake in 28 companies through strategic partnerships or share issues to raise money to finance a growing budget deficit projected at 152.6 billion shillings ($1.83 billion) in the 2011/2012 budget.
Following are details of the firms to be privatised:
* KENYA ELECTRICITY GENERATING COMPANY (KenGen) - Kenya's biggest power producer with over 80 percent of output. The government has said it will offload 19 percent after it sold a 30 percent stake in 2006. That initial public offering (IPO) was oversubscribed by more than 200 percent. KenGen reported an 11 percent rise in pretax profits to 1.28 billion shillings for the first half to December.
* KENYA PIPELINE COMPANY (KPC) - Operates the only oil pipeline linking the port of Mombasa to the capital, Nairobi. It plans to double the capacity to 880,000 litres per hour. The company also contracted China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Corp at a cost of 13.4 billion shillings to extend the pipe by 325 kms (200 miles) to the western town of Eldoret by June.
* KENYA PORTS AUTHORITY - Overseas operations at Mombasa port, the main gateway into countries such as Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, southern Sudan, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia. The port operates 24 hours a day which users say has eased delays. The government said it would seek private sector participation in the construction of a container terminal in Eldoret, outsourcing stevedoring services in Mombasa and the development of four new berths.
* SUGAR FACTORIES - The government plans to privatise five sugar factories -- Chemilil, Sony, Nzoia, Miwani and Muhoroni -- to cut inefficiency and boost competitiveness ahead of the end of trade safeguards in March 2012, which limit imports from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
The government would sell a 51 percent stake in the five sugar companies to strategic investors and reserve another 30 percent for farmers. Sugar output in 2010 was 523,522 tonnes down from 548,207 tonnes in 2009. Kenya has an annual sugar deficit of about 200,000 tonnes, which it plugs through imports from partner countries in the COMESA bloc.
* KENYA TOURISM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (KTDC) - Finances projects through loans or equity financing and owns some hotels. Tourism is one of the leading hard currency earners along with tea and horticulture, in a country famed for its wildlife and beaches. Media reports said that about eleven hotels under KTDC are up for sale.
* NATIONAL BANK OF KENYA - Listed on the Nairobi bourse. The government plans to sell a 51 percent stake in the bank after converting its preference shares. The government holds a 22.5 percent stake directly and a further 48.06 percent through the state-owned National Social Security Fund. National Bank posted a 25 percent jump in pretax profit in 2010 to 2.698 billion shillings.
* CONSOLIDATED BANK - Is 50.2 percent owned by the Treasury and the rest by 25 state agencies. Its pretax profit in 2010 stood at 257 million shillings up from 116 million in 2009. Media reports said the government was planning to sell a portion of its stake through an IPO that would raise 5 billion shilling.
* DEVELOPMENT BANK OF KENYA - Is majority held by Centum Investment and Transcentury, a private equity firm, holding 10.7 percent. The bank made 160.5 million shillings in the three quarters to September compared with 116 million shillings in a similar period in 2009.
* KENYA WINE AGENCIES - The wines and spirits marketer is majority-owned by the government.
* EAST AFRICAN PORTLAND CEMENT COMPANY - Is Kenya's second-largest cement maker. The government has a 25 percent stake in the company while France's Lafarge, the National Social Security Fund and the public hold the rest. The company's pretax profits dropped 41 percent to 255 million shillings in the first half to December.
* KENYA MEAT COMMISSION - Is a meat processor established in 1950, but years of mismanagement forced its closure. It reopened in mid-2006 and now exports about 700 tonnes of meat annually to other African countries and to the Middle East. Media reports said the government was seeking a strategic partner.
* NEW KENYA COOPERATIVE CREAMERIES - Is the largest milk processor in the country. Its predecessor, the Kenya Cooperative Creameries, collapsed in 1998 from mismanagement. It was sold to private investors but the government re-nationalised it in 2003. New management has since turned the dairy firm around. It made a pretax profit of 80 million shillings in the year to June 2010. ($1=84.20 Kenyan Shilling) (Reporting by Kevin Mwanza; Editing by George Obulutsa and Mark Potter)