Billionaire investor Baloobhai Patel has bought an additional 28.4 million shares of Absa Bank Kenya with a current market value of Sh625.9 million, entrenching his position as the bank's top individual shareholder.
Mr Patel bought the shares in the eight months ended August, during which time his stake increased to 1.72 percent, up from 1.2 percent in December 2024.
Regulatory filings show his ownership increased to 93.4 million shares worth Sh2 billion based on Absa’s closing price of Sh22 on Thursday.
The bank shares have rallied by 16.7 percent since the beginning of the year, with investors attracted by the lender’s higher dividend payout and profit growth.
The bank has been increasing its dividend payout per share by Sh0.2 each in each of the last four years, thanks to improved earnings.
Last year, the bank paid a dividend of Sh1.75 per share, meaning Mr Patel was entitled to a dividend of more than Sh113 million before a five percent withholding tax.
Absa maintained an interim dividend of Sh0.2 per share when it announced its results for the half year to June 2025.
The interim dividend is payable on or before October 15 to shareholders who were on its books as of September 19.
The bank posted a nine percent net profit growth to Sh11.6 billion in the six-month period, riding on reduced loan loss provisions.
The company’s net income stood at Sh10.7 billion in the same period last year.
Lower costs delivered most of the profit growth and were supported largely by a 37.3 percent reduction in loan loss provision.
The lender saw its loan book shrink 3.7 percent from Sh316.3 to Sh304.9 billion on reduced borrowing by households and businesses. Credit growth has been slow as borrowers shelved borrowing plans due to high interest rates and banks took a more cautious approach to tame growth of defaults.
Customer deposits, meanwhile, rose by 2.2 percent from Sh353.3 billion to Sh361.3 billion.
Besides Absa, Mr Patel’s multibillion-shilling equities portfolio includes holdings in Carbacid Investments, Sanlam Kenya, Britam Holdings and Co-operative Bank of Kenya.
Mr Patel has also been growing his shareholding in Co-op Bank, with his stake currently at 1.7 percent or 100 million shares. His stake in the bank is worth Sh2.08 billion based on the lender’s share price of Sh20.85 on Friday.
Since the beginning of the year, Mr Patel has bought 4.2 million Co-op shares with a current market value of Sh89.5 million. Among top individual shareholders, his stake is second only to the 2.3 percent held by the bank’s chief executive officer, Gideon Muriuki.
Mr Patel is the top shareholder at Carbacid Investments, holding a 49.9 percent stake through Aksaya Investments. The stake has a market value of Sh3.4 billion with Carbacid trading at Sh26.75 per share.
He holds five million shares in Britam, valued at Sh44.8 million based on the insurer’s Thursday closing price of Sh8.96.
