* Plans to list in 12 months time
* Needs 1,500 shareholders before it can list
* Selling 12.8 million shares in bid to raise 800 million shillings
NAIROBI, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Kenyan fashion and home products retailer Deacons said it would sell 12.8 million shares at 62.50 shillings each to fund regional expansion, and enable it to list on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
The privately-owned company hopes its share offer will raise 800 million Kenyan shillings by the end of the month.
"The primary focus is to get such number of shareholders that will allow us to list in 12 months. We are pretty much there other than the number of shareholders," Deacons Chairman Peter Njoka told investors and reporters at a briefing on Wednesday.
They require 1,500 shareholders, Njoka said.
Deacons has franchises for South Africa's Mr. Price, Woolworths, and Truworths, Identity and Sheet Street. It has two of its own brands 4U2 and Angelo and has outlets for Adidas and gym equipment brand Life Fitness.
Deacons said it made a net profit of 79.6 million shillings in 2009, and forecasts a jump to 149.0 million this year.
It had an earnings per share of 4.06 shillings last year and predicts this will nearly double to 7.59 shillings in 2010.
The offer will close on Nov. 30 and results will be announced on Dec. 6, said Chief Executive Muchiri Wahome.
"We have ambitious plans for growth at Deacons, buoyed by an emerging middleclass in Kenya and the region. We expect to significantly increase the number of stores across the region in the next five years," said Wahome.
Qualified institutional investors have been allocated 45 per cent, individuals and corporations 30 per cent, existing shareholders 20 per cent while staff will get 5 per cent of the shares.
Deacons has been in Kenya since 1958 and has 23 stores, including three in Tanzania and one in Uganda, and plans to open one in Rwanda. ($1=80.36 Kenyan Shilling) (Reporting by Wangui Kanina; Editing by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura and Jon Loades-Carter)