Mr Jimnah Mbaru, founder shareholder of TransCentury. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
February regulatory filings show that Mr Jimnah Mbaru had traded 9.4 million shares equivalent to a 3.3 per cent stake he previously held in the company.
Mr Mbaru joins Mr Ndung’u Gathinji who is no longer listed as one of the top shareholders of TransCentury in which he held a 4.1 per cent stake when it listed in 2011.
Other founders, including Eddy Njoroge and Zeph Mbugua, have also sold part of their shares in multiple trades over the past few years.
Businessman Jimnah Mbaru has exited the list of TransCentury’s top owners, marking the second time a significant founder shareholder of the investment firm has dropped from its list of major investors.
February regulatory filings show that Mr Mbaru had traded 9.4 million shares equivalent to a 3.3 per cent stake he previously held in the company.
It was not immediately clear whether he sold or transferred the shares that are currently worth Sh150 million based on TransCentury’s current market price of Sh15.75.
Mr Mbaru joins Mr Ndung’u Gathinji who is no longer listed as one of the top shareholders of TransCentury in which he held a 4.1 per cent stake when it listed in 2011.
The trade has seen the combined ownership of the top 10 founders drop to 47.5 per cent, down from 57.3 per cent in 2011.
Other founders, including Eddy Njoroge and Zeph Mbugua, have also sold part of their shares in multiple trades over the past few years, cashing in their long-term investment.
The investors are free to sell their entire holdings after the expiry of the lock-in period. The Capital Markets Authority had barred the key shareholders from selling more than half of their stakes in the two years ended August 2013.
The latest trade has seen Mr Mbaru’s position as the tenth largest local individual shareholder taken by Mr Job Njeru who now holds 9.4 million shares equivalent to 3.3 per cent equity.
Mr Njeru, who is also a founder and director of the investment firm, is stepping down from the board after declining to offer himself for re-election at the May 29 annual general meeting.
The transaction by Mr Mbaru comes at a time when TransCentury’s stock has dropped to the current lows, representing a two-thirds decline from the listing price of Sh50.
The investment firm is set to launch a rights issue that could further change its ownership structure depending on the uptake of the cash call. The cash call will be used to to a repay $80 million (Sh7.5 billion) convertible Eurobond it issued in 2011.
The rights issue will see shareholders pump in nearly double the company’s current market capitalisation of Sh4.4 billion and will see investors who sit out the rights issue facing significant dilution.
Details of the upcoming rights issue, including the expected gross proceeds and pricing of the new shares, are expected to be published after approval of the increase in the share capital.
In preparation for the cash call, the company announced its plans to double its authorised shares to 1.2 billion units from the current 600 million units.
The proposal will be presented to shareholders at the AGM for their approval.
TransCentury has so far issued 280.2 million shares held by 1, 545 investors, representing 47 per cent of the 600 million authorised units.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
