Kenyatta family’s equity wealth in banking giant skyrockets by $21 million in 2022

Mfonobong Nsehe -

The Kenyatta family, Kenya’s leading landowners and owners of a significant stake in NCBA Group, saw the market value of their equity holdings increase by $21 million in 2022. This pushed the market value of their holdings in the leading financial services group to nearly $70 million.

NCBA Group is a Nairobi-based financial services conglomerate with operations in Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and Cote d’Ivoire. It was established in 2019 through the merger of NIC Bank Group and Commercial Bank of Africa Group, and is partially owned by the Kenyatta, Merali, and Ndegwa families.

The Kenyatta family, which includes Ngina Kenyatta, Muhoho Kenyatta, and Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya’s former president, owns a 13.2-percent stake in NCBA Group, a total of 217,497,023 ordinary shares, through the estate of their late father, Jomo Kenyatta.

In 2022, NCBA Group saw its share price increase by more than 56 percent, rising from Ksh25.2 ($0.223) on Jan. 1 to Ksh39.35 ($0.319) on Dec. 31. This double-digit increase in share price, driven by investor reaction to the company’s financial performance, resulted in a Ksh3.08-billion ($21 million) increase in the market value of the stake controlled by the Kenyatta family.

As a result of this increase, the market value of the stake held by the family rose from Ksh5.48 billion ($48.4 million) on Jan. 1 to Ksh8.56 billion ($69.33 million) on Dec. 31.

NCBA’s profit also saw significant growth, rising from Ksh6.52 billion ($53.3 million) to Ksh12.8 billion ($104.7 million) at the end of the first nine months of its 2022 fiscal year. This growth was driven by a double-digit increase in interest and non-interest income during the period.

The company has also seen success through its partnership with telecom provider Safaricom to launch the market-dominating mobile phone-based lending service, M-Shwari, in Kenya.

NCBA is now in negotiations for mobile phone banking partnerships with banks and telecom operators in three countries.