Britam finance director debuts on top 10 shareholders list

Britam’s group finance and strategy director Gladys Karuri has for the first time appeared on the company’s list of top 10 individual shareholders, indicating that she has been raising her ownership of the firm as the stock rallied to touch an all-time high of Sh34 per share.

The latest regulatory filings by the financial services firm show that Ms Karuri was in June ranked Britam’s ninth-largest local individual shareholder with shares worth Sh35.3 million, making her debut entry on the top owners register.

The entry of the 40-year-old accounting executive into Britam’s top-10 individual shareholders list came as billionaire businessman Baloobhai Patel also moved up the ranking to the fifth biggest local individual owner.

Mr Patel has kept his total Britam shares at five million, but has made massive capital gains given that his stake is now valued at Sh161.2 million from Sh46.5 million in January this year when he first appeared on the list.

The businessman appears to be shifting part of his portfolio to Britam after dramatically exiting troubled sugar miller Mumias, where he owned 17 million shares equivalent to a 1.1 per cent stake.

READ: Baloobhai Patel exits list of top 10 Mumias Sugar shareholders

The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has also bought into Britam, and is now ranked the fourth largest overall shareholder with a 6.11 per cent stake currently valued at Sh3.7 billion.

Britam director for marketing and corporate affairs Muthoga Ngera has bought an additional 221,100 shares in his employer and is ranked eighth largest individual Kenyan shareholder.

Britam’s stock has gained 77.7 per cent over the past three months to close at Sh32.25 Wednesday — the highest level since its initial public offering in July 2011 at Sh9 per share.

The increased interest on the Britam counter is attributed to a series of acquisitions the company has made in the past one year.

Britam shares traded at an average of Sh12.50 in November last year before the company embarked on an acquisition spree.

The rally has generated major capital gains for long-term investors in the investment firm including businessman Peter Munga,  Dawood Rawat, investment banker Jimnah Mbaru and Equity Bank CEO, James Mwangi.

READ: Britam mints billions for top owners in five days

Mauritian magnate Dawood Rawat is the single largest shareholder and also serves as director at Britam with a 21.05 per cent which he owns through his investment vehicle British American (K) Holdings Ltd.

The stake is now valued at Sh14.5 billion from Sh5.6 billion in November last year.