Kenyan tycoon Peter Munga earns nearly $1 million from Britam as shares rise by 20 percent

Kenyan multimillionaire businessman Peter Munga has seen the market value of his stake in Britam Holdings increased by KSH102 million ($924,000) in the past 143 days, as shares in the Nairobi-based financial services group increase by double digits.

Britam Holdings is a leading regional insurer with a diversified financial services portfolio and active operations in seven African countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan, Mozambique and Malawi.

Mung, the immediate past group chair of Equity Bank Group, a financial services group based in Nairobi, Kenya, holds a 72-million-share stake in Britam.

As of press time, 4:07 PM, Sept. 23, shares in the investment holding company were trading at KSH8.08 ($0.073) per share, 98-basis points lower than its opening price on the Nairobi bourse this morning.

Since the opening of the Nairobi Stock Exchange on May 3, its stock price has increased from KSH6.72 ($0.061) per share to KSH8.08 ($0.073) per share, thus accruing a 20.2-percent profit for the Kenyan businessman and other shareholders.

The double-digit surge in the group’s shares was due to investor buying activities on the Nairobi bourse in reaction to a profit of KSH647 million ($5.9 million) recorded in the first half of 2021.

Meanwhile, the market value of Munga’s stake in the investment holding has increased from KSH504 million ($4.565 million) on May 3 to KSH606 ($5.489 million) on Sept. 23.

This translates to a gain of KSH102 million ($924,000) for Munga in 143 days.

In recent times, Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) ordered the directors of Britam Holdings to confirm their role in a scandal involving Munga.

The order follows a disclosure by the Mauritian commission of inquiry that Munga arranged the secretive purchase of 452.5 million shares in Britam from the Mauritian government in a deal that left the country with a Ksh3.9-billion ($35.9 million) loss in 2016.

CMA CEO Wycliffe Shamiah said Mauritius feels its officers were compromised when clearing the transaction. However, further details revealed that it was in fact based on negotiations.