Mr Kimani’s holdings of the agricultural firm’s shares had risen to 6.2 million units, up from six million in December 2018 when his stake was equivalent to 30.7 percent.
His purchases have partly contributed to a rally in Kakuzi’s share price amid a general bear market on the NSE.
The company’s stock, which goes most days without trading, has gained 24 percent since the beginning of the year to reach Sh385.
Billionaire investor John Kibunga Kimani #ticker:KUKZ has bought an additional 263,526 shares in Kakuzi with a current market value of Sh101 million, raising his stake to a new high of 32 percent.
Regulatory filings for July show that Mr Kimani’s holdings of the agricultural firm’s shares had risen to 6.2 million units, up from six million in December 2018 when his stake was equivalent to 30.7 percent.
Ahead of the latest disclosures, the investor had told Business Daily that he would buy more Kakuzi shares using proceeds from his earlier sale of three million shares in oil marketer Total Kenya.
Mr Kimani’s purchases have partly contributed to a rally in Kakuzi’s share price amid a general bear market on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
The company’s stock, which goes most days without trading, has gained 24 percent since the beginning of the year to reach Sh385.
Kakuzi made a net profit of Sh245.5 million in the half year ended June compared to net earnings of Sh270.4 million a year earlier, representing a decline of 9.2 percent despite sales rising one percent to Sh619.4 million.
Mr Kimani’s latest purchase of Kakuzi shares comes as the company continues to grow and diversify its business.
Kakuzi recently ventured into production of blueberries, adding to its tea, avocados, macadamia, trees and livestock operations.
Blueberries are sold fresh and can also be processed to make a wide variety of other products such as juice, jam and wine.
Besides blueberries, Kakuzi is also scaling up production of its mainstay avocado crop by a large margin.
Kakuzi plans to dedicate up to 1,200 hectares to the production of avocado — its largest revenue earner and most profitable crop — in the medium term.
The company is also investing in infrastructure to support the export of its avocado whose production has dropped significantly this year.
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