Dyer & Blair Investment Bank owner Jimnah Mbaru. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Businessman Jimnah Mbaru last year sold 64.8 million Britam shares valued at Sh318 million at current price, marking the second time he has traded significantly on his
stake in the listed insurer in four years.In April 2019, he sold 50 million shares in the insurer to Swiss Re at a major premium to NSE prices in a privately negotiated off-market transaction. He subsequently bought the same number of shares in the open market and rebuilt his ownership to 194.8 million shares by December 31, 2019.
Read: Mbaru reaps Sh900m from Britam share sale
Filings in Britam’s annual report for 2022 show he ended last year with a holding of 130 million shares, equivalent to a 5.1 percent stake in the underwriter, having opened the year at 194.8 million units.
None of the other top 10 shareholders in Britam, who include Mr Mbaru’s fellow Britam founders Peter Munga, Benson Wairegi and James Mwangi, recorded a change in the number of shares held in the period, the annual report shows.
Similar to the 2019 transactions, there were no recorded large block sales on the Britam stock last year, suggesting the sale or share transfer was done though off-market deals.
In contrast to other securities markets regulators in South Africa, the US and Europe, Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority does not require listed companies and their insiders to disclose the price at which they buy or sell shares.
The Britam share traded in a range of Sh4.97 and Sh7.58 last year, moving 15.9 million units as per the daily trading price lists issued by the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). At close of trading yesterday, the company’s share price stood at Sh4.90 per unit.
Britam’s shareholder filings in the annual report indicated that the sale of shares was most likely to local institutional investors, whose percentage ownership of the firm rose higher compared to the other investor categories in the period.
Local institutions held 919.4 million shares of Britam by last December, equivalent to a 36.4 percent stake, up from 849.7 million units (33.7 percent) a year earlier.
On the other hand, the stake in the hands of local individuals dropped from 593.7 million to 528.4 million units, representing a decline from 23.5 percent to 20.9 percent of Britam’s issued shares. Foreign investors, led by Swiss Re, IFC and Africinvest remained the biggest owners of the insurer, with a holding of 43.63 percent by the close of 2022.
→ cmwaniki@ke.nationmedia.com
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