Multimillionaire Rajabali brothers gain $3.4 million from stake in Tanzania’s largest bank

Tanzanian multimillionaire businessmen Aunali and Sajjad Rajabali have seen a significant rise in their net worth since the start of 2022 as a result of a $3.4-million year-to-date increase in the market value of their stake in CRDB Bank Plc.

The Rajabali brothers rank among Tanzania’s richest businessmen and the wealthiest investors on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange. Together, they own a 2.6-percent stake in CRDB Bank Plc, a leading Dar es Salam-based financial services group.

CRDB Bank is Tanzania’s largest commercial bank by assets, followed by NMB Bank Plc, another major player in the country’s financial services industry. As of June 30, the lender’s assets totaled Tsh10.25 trillion ($4.4 billion), compared to NMB’s Tsh9.05 trillion ($3.9 billion).

Since the beginning of the year, the share price of the leading lender on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange has increased from Tsh280 ($0.12) on Jan. 1 to Tsh400 ($0.172) on Sept. 14, resulting in a 42.9-percent gain for shareholders, including the Rajabali brothers.

The bump in the company’s share price can be attributed to the bank’s strong financial performance since the year began, with its profit in the first half of 2022 increasing by 97 percent to Tsh250 billion ($107.3 million) compared to Tsh127 billion ($54.5 million) in the first half of 2021, despite the harsh macroeconomic environment.

As a result of price gains, the market value of the stake held by the Rajabali brothers has risen from Tsh18.74 billion ($8.04 million) at the start of the year to Tsh26.77 billion ($11.49 million) at the time of writing.

This amounts to a total gain of Tsh8.03 billion ($3.45 million) for the Tanzanian multimillionaire brothers, as they continue to consolidate their position as one of the richest investors on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange.