Companies

Kenya Re buys more Co-operative Bank shares

JADIAH

Jadiah Mwarania, Kenya Re MD. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NMG

Kenya Re #ticker:KNRE has accumulated 15.3 million shares of Co-operative Bank #ticker:COOP worth Sh261.4 million, joining the list of the lender’s top shareholders according to regulatory filings.

The reinsurer says it has been accumulating the bank’s shares for some time now, a move that saw it rank sixth on the April list of top local institutional investors with a 0.31 per cent stake.

“It was not a single transaction. We have been accumulating Co-op Bank shares just like our other equity investments,” Jadiah Mwarania, Kenya Re chief executive, told the Business Daily.

Kenya Re is one of the major investors at the Nairobi Securities Exchange where it owns significant stakes in companies with the intention of holding them for the long term.

The reinsurer becomes the latest high profile investor to buy into Co-op Bank.

Billionaire investor Baloobhai Patel recently acquired a 0.22 per cent stake in the lender with a current market value of Sh183 million.

Tanzanian billionaires Aunali and Sajjad Rajabali have also bought a 0.47 per cent stake in Co-op Bank worth Sh391 million.

Kenya Re and the billionaires have recorded major capital gains on the stock which has rallied 30 per cent since the beginning of the year to trade at Sh17.05 on Friday.

Co-op Bank recently closed its books for a Sh0.8 per share dividend and will on June 30 register shareholders who will be eligible for a bonus of one share for every five held.

The bank recorded a six per cent net profit drop to Sh3.2 billion in the first quarter ended March on the back of higher expenses and reduced earnings from lending.

Co-op Bank, which recorded a pre-tax loss of Sh499.4 million at its South Sudan subsidiary last year, plans to venture into new markets in the region over the medium term.