Top Transcentury shareholders make another share sale
Mr Zephania Mbugua is among those who reduced their holdings in TransCentury. Photo/File
What you need to know:
The new sales come at a time when the firm’s share price has gained 19.5 per cent to trade at Sh27 which is still below its listing price of Sh50.
Shareholders of TransCentury continued to reduce their holdings in the investment firm after making another set of share sale in the two months to January.
The latest shareholder register shows that Anne Gachui, Peter Kanyago and Zephania Mbugua sold 312,300 shares currently worth Sh8.4 million between December and January.
This came after Mrs Gachui and Mr Mbugua alongside Eddy Njoroge and Joseph Magari sold more than five million TransCentury shares between January and November last year.
That was the first share sale by the founders of the company since its listing at the Nairobi Securities Exchange in July 2011, with the owners earning nearly Sh130 million from the transactions.
The new sales come at a time when the firm’s share price has gained 19.5 per cent to trade at Sh27 which is still below its listing price of Sh50.
Filings with the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) show that Mr Kanyago sold the most shares at 219,900 units worth Sh5.9 million, but still retained his 6.9 per cent stake in the investment firm.
Mrs Gachui—the widow of businessman James Gachui—sold 100,000 shares worth Sh2.7 million and also retained her stake at 7.7 per cent.
The share sales have, however, seen former Kenya Revenue Authority commissioner-general Michael Waweru join the Gachui family at the top of the TransCentury shareholders list with shares worth Sh580 million each.
TransCentury chairman Mr Mbugua sold 7,600 shares worth Sh205,200, but his stake remains unchanged at 5.9 per cent, making him the fourth largest investor in the firm after businessman Jimnah Mbaru who has a six per cent stake.
The regulator barred key shareholders of the investment firm from selling more than half their stakes within two years to August 2013 as part of conditions attached to the listing of the firm.
“As a sign of commitment to the growth of the company and confidence in the long-term fundamentals, key shareholders have agreed not to offload 50 per cent of their shareholding for a period of 24 months after the listing,’’ TransCentury said in its listing information memorandum.
The share sale of the top shareholders has cut the stake controlled by the top 10 investors to 55.2 per cent from 57.3 per cent in December 2011.
TransCentury’s half-year net profit rose five-fold to Sh326 million in June compared to Sh54 million the year before, as sales jumped 56 per cent to Sh7 billion from Sh4.5 billion.
The company was founded in 1997 by a group of Kenyan entrepreneurs, including its former chairman Mr Gachui who passed on in December 2010.
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