Big shift in brokers’ fortunes

It is against this backdrop that the performance of last year’s top five firms is attracting interest as the market activity continues to rise with the ongoing economic recovery.

In the past three years, Kestrel Capital has been a permanent fixture in the list of top five firms at the bourse.

Last year, the firm topped the earnings board with Sh24 million in pre-tax profits compared to Sh69 million in 2008.

The firm, which controls the largest fraction of the lucrative foreign investor transactions at the bourse, is the brainchild of former Wall Street investment banker Andre Desimone and appears set to keep its position at the top.

What has worked for Kestrel Capital is a strong history of detailed research reports and a formidable global network that has put foreign investor cash firmly in its hands.

That Kestrel Capital still tops the leader board accounting for 14.9 per cent or Sh5.6 billion of the bourse’s turnover is being seen as an indicator of the premium value that foreign investors place on a strong track record.

Cited as the preferred player for the big local equity buyers, Apex Africa Investment Bank has used its elaborate network among local institutional and high net worth individual investors to occupy one of the five front seats at the bourse.

Kassim Bharadia, Apex Africa’s chief executive officer has built vast networks among business tycoons in Mombasa, many of who form the core of his company’s clientele.

At African Alliance Kenya Securities, the chief executive officer Lucas Otieno has been executing a stealth growth plan that mainly uses market research to rope in and keep customers.

The broker is not only backed by one of the strongest research departments in the Kenyan market but also relies on a continent-wide network to grow its customer base.

Brain power

Where African Alliance has used its brain power to climb the pecking ladder, CfC Financial Services can be said to have made the most of the rebranding plan it executed last year to win a share of local and foreign institutional investor cake at the NSE.

A rebranded CfC Stanbic Financial Services has made a clear shift of its earnings mix cutting back its presence in the retail segment of the market that once accounted for 90 per cent of its business in favour of institutional investors.

By tapping into a global network of financial services firms under the umbrella of Standard Bank, Nkoregamba Mwebesa, CfC Stanbic Financial Services managing director, is keen to widen the firm’s product offering and reach for a place among the top dogs.