Munga says to sell Sh6.3 billion Britam shares within two years

Businessman Peter Munga. PHOTO | FILE 

By VICTOR JUMA, vjuma@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• The market value of the new shares stands at Sh6.3 billion based on the company’s current trading price of Sh14 on the NSE.
• Mr Munga is acquiring the shares from the government of Mauritius which seized them from Britam’s disgraced former director and top shareholder Dawood Rawat.
• It is not clear at what price the businessman is buying the extra shares but he is expected to pay some premium to the market value.

Billionaire businessman Peter Munga plans to sell the additional 23.3 per cent stake he is buying in Britam Holdings within two years, a move that will see his interest in the insurance firm revert to the current 16.96 per cent.

The market value of the new shares stands at Sh6.3 billion based on the company’s current trading price of Sh14 on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

Mr Munga is acquiring the shares from the government of Mauritius which seized them from Britam’s disgraced former director and top shareholder Dawood Rawat.

The State accused the businessman of running a Ponzi scheme in the island nation.

READ: Mauritius seeks buyer for seized Britam stake

“It is the intention of the purchaser to dispose of the acquisition shares within 24 months of the date that the acquisition shares are transferred to the purchaser,” Mr Munga said in a statement through his company Plum LLP through which he is implementing the buyout.

With Plum expecting to conclude the transaction by the end of this month, the onward sale to a strategic investor is expected to be complete on or before July 2018.

It is not clear at what price Mr Munga is buying the extra shares but he is expected to pay some premium to the market value.

The billionaire investor is also expected to sell the stake at a premium to the envisaged strategic investor, earning a profit in the transaction.

Mr Munga says the transaction is meant to remove uncertainty over Britam’s ownership in light of the fact that the government of Mauritius essentially inherited the company’s single largest stake with no clear direction to whom it would eventually sell to.

The businessman, a founder and an insider at Britam, says he will sell the stake to a suitable strategic partner.