Nairobi, July 28 -- Former Safaricom chief executive Michael Joseph has joined the board of De La Rue Kenya EPZ Limited amid ownership changes, signalling a return to operations for the banknote printer more than two years after it suspended operations.

The appointment comes alongside sweeping ownership changes that have seen Switzerland-based Thomas De La Rue AG transfer its entire 60 percent stake in the Kenyan subsidiary to Mauritius-registered investment firm Monarch Capital Limited, according to filings at the Registrar of Companies.

Thomas De La Rue AG is a wholly owned subsidiary of London-listed De La Rue plc, which has operated in Kenya for nearly six decades and dominated the printing of Kenyan banknotes until it lost the mult...