Kenyattas, Kenya’s leading landowners, rake in $9.8 million in three weeks from NCBA stake

In a remarkable turn of events, Kenya’s influential Kenyatta family, renowned as the nation’s leading landowners, has managed to recoup a substantial portion of their previous wealth losses this year.

The remarkable turnaround is attributed to the recent surge in the market value of their stakes in the NCBA Group, driven by renewed buying interest in the bank’s shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

According to data tracked by Billionaires.Africa, the Kenyatta family, ranked among Kenya’s wealthiest families, has witnessed a staggering increase of Ksh1.37 billion ($9.87 million) in the market value of their stake in the NCBA Group over the past three weeks.

This impressive surge in the family’s fortune follows an unfortunate decline of $11.26 million between January 1 and May 16, caused by a double-digit drop in NCBA shares.

NCBA Group, a prominent financial services conglomerate headquartered in Nairobi, operates across Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and Côte d’Ivoire.

Established in 2019 through the merger of NIC Bank Group and Commercial Bank of Africa Group, the company boasts partial ownership by the Kenyatta, Merali, and Ndegwa families.

Through their late father’s estate, Jomo Kenyatta, the Kenyatta family owns an impressive 13.2-percent stake in NCBA Group, equivalent to 217,497,023 ordinary shares.

In the past three weeks alone, NCBA shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange have soared by a remarkable 20.5 percent, climbing from Ksh30.7 ($0.221) to Ksh37 ($0.226) as of June 5. Consequently, the group’s market capitalization has surpassed Ksh60 billion ($430 million).

Thanks to this recent surge in the group’s share price, the Kenyatta family’s 13.2-percent stake in NCBA Group has experienced a Ksh1.37 billion ($9.87 million) increase over the past three weeks, from Ksh6.67 billion ($48.1 million) on May 15 to Ksh8.047 billion ($57.98 million) at the time of this report.