Home Afrika founders sell 6p.c stake after listing

Founders of Home Afrika have cut their stake by 6.1 per cent in the real estate developer, less than three months after listing at the Nairobi bourse.

Regulatory filings show that a section of the founders sold 24.8 million shares currently worth Sh158 million in the four months to October, following its listing in July at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

The stock has dropped 74.4 per cent since its debut at the Nairobi bourse to Sh6.40 in a period that has seen the market index gain 7.2 per cent to 5,063 points.

This signals that the investors could have earned more than Sh200 million given that the bulk of the shares were sold when the stock was trading at a higher level.

The company was listed on the Growth Enterprise Market Segment (GEMS) at a price of Sh12 per share which rose to Sh25 on the first day of trading on July 15.

READ: Home Afrika’s valuation doubles on debut at NSE

The Capital Markets Authority did not lock in Home Afrika’s founder shareholders upon listing as is the norm, a fact the company attributed to lack of concentration in its ownership.

“None of the existing shareholders owns a three per cent interest in the voting power of the issuer and have therefore not undertaken a lock-in period,” the firm said in its listing disclosure.

Largest

Investment vehicle Seyani Brothers & Co, which previously owned 10 million shares equivalent to a 2.47 per cent stake in Home Afrika, has disappeared from the list of the company’s owners.

Stimela Co-op cut its stake from 2.47 per cent to 1.87 per cent in the same period after selling 2.4 million shares.

Home Afrika Continental, an investment vehicle of nine individuals, sold two million shares reducing its stake to 5.43 per cent from 5.92 per cent.

The firm, however, remains the largest investor in the real estate firm ahead of Home Afrika Investments which has not traded its 5.03 per cent stake.  

Hansan Investment sold 534,900 shares, cutting its stake two per cent from 2.47 per cent. Dale Farm, an investment vehicle, and Paul Munyua each sold at least two million shares in the review period.

Patrick Ng’ang’a made the biggest sell-off by an individual investor after transacting 5.8 million shares, cutting his ownership to one per cent from 2.47 per cent.

Home Afrika, which had 128 shareholders, has seen its investor base rise to more than 1,500 since listing. The company made a net profit of Sh156.2 million in the half year ended June, a 7.2 per cent drop compared to Sh167.6 million the year before.

The company said it was in the process of raising up to Sh2 billion through a real estate investment trust to fund its property development.

The firm’s projects include the flagship Migaa in Kiambu.