Mwangi acquires Equity shares for first time since NSE debut

Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi speaks at a past event. FILE 

By VICTOR JUMA

In Summary

• Filings with the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) show that the billionaire banker acquired 152,480 shares currently worth Sh4.9 million in the six months to November.
• Mr Mwangi’s new share acquisition emerged in a period when other founders of Equity Bank led by its chairman, Peter Munga, continued to cut their ownership in the lender.

Equity Bank chief executive James Mwangi has for the first time since the debut of the firm at the Nairobi bourse in 2006 acquired additional shares in the lender.

Filings with the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) show that the billionaire banker acquired 152,480 shares currently worth Sh4.9 million in the six months to November.

The Business Daily failed to get a comment from Mr Mwangi on the new shares given that he has in the past traded in the bank’s stocks worth hundreds of millions of shillings.

The chief executive has reduced his directly-owned stake from 5.37 per cent in 2008 to 3.58 per cent in 2011 and Sh3.45 per cent in May, pushing his proceeds from the sale to about Sh1.6 billion.

Mr Mwangi in July said he was putting brakes on the sale of his shares in the bank, arguing that his previous sale of Equity shares was dictated by regulations that bar an executive director of a bank from holding more than five per cent of the institution’s capital.

“Mine is a perpetual investment not for trading. I am a vision investor so people should not be expecting me to be trading my shares,” Mr Mwangi told this newspaper in July.

On Monday, efforts to get to Mr Mwangi on phone were not successful and he did not respond to text messages over the new shares.

His overall holding is now 4.88 per cent because of an indirect stake of 1.2 per cent held through British American Investments — where he has a 3.49 per cent stake — and the bank’s Employee Share Ownership Plan.

This values Mr Mwangi’s stake in the bank at Sh5.9 billion, making him one of Kenya’s wealthiest CEOs.

The bank’s share has shed 2.24 per cent over the past six months to stand at Sh32.57.

Since the bank’s debut at the NSE on August 7, 2006, its stock has appreciated the most over the seven-year period at more than 900 per cent, opening the way for investors to skim their holdings at decent capital gains.

This has made its top owners, including employees, directors and founders, billionaires. Mr Mwangi’s new share acquisition emerged in a period when other founders of Equity Bank led by its chairman, Peter Munga, continued to cut their ownership in the lender.

READ: Munga, Mugukus cut Equity stakes for hundreds of millions

The family of the late Nelson Muguku, Simon Thuo and Mr Munga sold shares currently worth Sh327.5 million, Sh262 million and Sh229 million respectively in the six months to November.

Mr Munga’s stake dropped to 0.42 per cent in November from 3.2 per cent during the lender’s listing while that of the Mugukus has fallen to 1.08 per cent from 8.3 per cent in the same period.