One of Kenya’s richest businessmen, James Mwangi loses $6.3 million as foreign investors dump Kenyan shares

Following a $2.3-million surge in the market value of his stake in Equity Group Holdings in the first 12 days of 2023, Kenyan multimillionaire banker James Mwangi has since seen a substantial dip in his net worth due to heightened sell-off on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

According to data tracked by Billionaires.Africa, the market value of Mwangi’s stake in Equity Group has declined by a staggering Ksh824.37 million ($6.3 million) in 2023, significantly diminishing his wealth and putting him lower on the list of the richest businessmen in the country.

The decline in the share price of Equity Group, which led to a staggering $6.3-million loss in market value for Mwangi, can be attributed to foreign investors dumping more than 4 billion NSE shares in multi-year selloffs, resulting in a more volatile bourse and decreased stock prices on the local bourse.

Analysts have attributed the large-scale selling of shares and liquidation of holdings to a variety of challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, including rising interest rates, current foreign exchange volatility, and the risk of contagion from struggling banks in the international finance sector.

Since the start of 2023, the share price of Equity Group on the NSE has drastically dropped by 14.5 percent, declining from Ksh44.5 ($0.3408) to Ksh38.05 ($0.291) due to the recent sell-off.

This dramatic price slump has caused significant paper wealth losses for Equity Group shareholders, it has also resulted in the market capitalization of the leading financial services group falling below the Ksh145 billion ($1.11 billion) mark.

Mwangi, who has made remarkable contributions to Kenya’s financial services industry and holds a substantial 3.38-percent stake in Equity Group (127,809,180 shares), has seen the market value of his investment plummet by Ksh824.37 million ($6.3 million) since the start of the year, dropping from Ksh5.68 billion ($43.56 million) on Jan. 1 to Ksh4.86 billion ($37.24 million) at the time of this report.