Muthoka enters list of Safaricom’s top 10 investors

Two billionaire investors have raised their stakes in telecommunications company Safaricom, indicating a shifting shareholders roll for the firm whose share price has been on a rally.

The share purchases, reflected in Safaricom’s latest regulatory filings, show investor John Kibunga Kimani is now the biggest individual shareholder of Safaricom while businessman Peter Muthoka has showed up on the list of the telco’s top ten individual investors for the first time.

Mr Muthoka was ranked Safaricom’s tenth largest individual owner as per the December filings with 4.2 million shares worth Sh65.4 million, based on the firm’s current share price of Sh15.4.

The businessman said he first bought Safaricom’s shares when the firm went public through an initial public offering (IPO) in 2008.

“I have been buying more shares since then,” said Mr Muthoka in an interview.

The purchase of stock by wealthy investors who ordinarily have insights into future prospects of such companies typically reflects their confidence in the firms’ future performance.

Mr Muthoka scaled back his presence at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) last year when his logistics firm Acceler Global sold its 24.7 per cent stake in CMC Holdings to Dubai-based Al-Futtaim Group for Sh1.8 billion.

The transaction was part of the Sh7.5 billion buyout of the auto dealer that has now been delisted after Al-Futtaim acquired nearly all the shares from local and foreign investors.

Mr Muthoka’s other business interests include Transglobal Cargo Centre, a company that offers cargo handling, warehousing and storage services at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Mr Kimani, whose wealth is concentrated at the NSE, shot to the top of Safaricom’s shareholders’ register after raising his ownership to 10.8 million shares worth Sh166.6 million at current market prices.

The shrewd investor has built up his stake in Safaricom over the years, having held 8.6 million shares in May 2013.

His ascent to the top was also helped by the exit of Uganda-based investor Winnfred Lalani who was previously ranked first with 11.6 million shares but disappeared from the list in December.

Mr Kimani is a long-term investor at the NSE who prefers to accumulate stocks of blue-chip firms. He has major positions at East African Breweries (EABL), Nation Media Group, Kakuzi, and Centum, with his total equities portfolio topping Sh3 billion.

Fellow NSE billionaire investors Baloobhai Patel and Chris Kirubi have, however, cut back their interest in Safaricom over last year and 2013 respectively.