Kenyan mogul Baloobhai Patel to restructure holdings in NSE-listed companies
Kenyan tycoon Baloobhai Patel is set to embark on a restructuring process that will see his holding company, Aksaya Investment Holdings Limited, take over his direct equity positions in publicly traded companies as part of a succession plan that began in 2015.
The move comes after Patel in 2015 introduced his wife, Amarjeet Baloobhai Patel, as a co-owner of his multimillion dollars positions in multiple firms such as Sanlam Kenya, Bamburi Cement, Absa Bank Kenya, and Co-op Bank, whose shares are traded on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
The successful businessman who has amassed a fortune for himself also has stakes in Williamson Tea Kenya, Diamond Trust Bank Group, and Safaricom, Kenya’s largest telecom service provider.
His son, Rohan Baloobhai Patel, who runs the family’s property investment business and is the director of corporate development at Sanlam Kenya, is expected to play a leadership position in the restructuring process, given his active role in managing the family’s investment equity portfolio.
In a recent notice, Rohan stated that “the transferors are seeking to restructure key investments into a corporate structure to enable better succession planning and to enable the corporate entity to be better positioned as a strategic investor for future Carbacid investments in Kenyan and regional markets.”
As part of the restructuring plan, Aksaya will acquire a 49.9-percent stake in Carbacid Investments Plc in a private transaction worth Ksh1.5 billion, subject to approval from the Capital Markets Authority.
Baloobhai Patel increased his shareholding in Co-op Bank earlier this year from 33.9 million shares, or 0.58 percent, at the start of 2021 to 40.4 million shares, or 0.69 percent, at the time of writing.
He also increased his stake in Bamburi Cement from 1.94 percent (7,026,790 shares) to 4.12 percent (14,956,990 shares) in May, taking advantage of a drop in the share price of publicly traded companies on the NSE.