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Kenyan businessman James Mwangi’s stake in the leading national financial services company Equity Group has grown by about 21 percent since the start of the year. The surge follows a rise in the company’s shares on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
The gains have led to an $8.9-million (Ksh952.2 million) increase in the market value of his shares. A substantial shareholder in the bank, Mwangi owns a 3.38-percent position.
Mwangi is Equity Group’s group managing director and group CEO. His equity stake is 127,809,180 shares and is valued at $51.1 million (Ksh 5.5 billion) at the current price.
Equity Group Holdings Plc is Kenya’s biggest bank by market value, with an operational footprint in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The bank has plans to grow its customer base to 100 million. It has targeted small businesses and the mining sector in the DRC and Ethiopia with this end in mind.
Its unit in the DRC recently merged with Banque Commerciale du Congo Sarl as a further step in this direction. The merger almost tripled the group’s cash and cash equivalents and increased its dollar loans to 41 percent.
In addition to the group’s strong earnings, its financial strength and robust balance sheet have caught the attention of analysts. Their bullish bias toward the bank has led to recent gains in the share price from $0.33 (Ksh 35.55) per share at the start of the year to $0.40 (Ksh43.00) per share at the close of market today.
These gains account for the rise in Mwangi’s stake from $42.2 million (Ksh4.5 billion) in early 2021 to $51.1 million (Ksh5.5 billion) at the close of market today. This translates to an overall increase of $8.9 million (Ksh952.2 million) for the banker since January.
