After recording an impressive bump in his fortune earlier this year, Kenyan banking magnate Gideon Muriuki has experienced a substantial decline in the market value of his stake in the Co-operative Bank Group (Co-op Bank Group).
According to data tracked by Billionaires.Africa, Muriuki’s stake in the leading Kenyan lender has declined by more than $1 million over the past 76 days.Â
The decline is linked to the recent plunge in Co-op Bank shares despite the impressive financial performance that the bank delivered in the first quarter of its 2023 fiscal year.
Co-operative Bank Group is one of the largest financial institutions in East Africa. Its subsidiaries include Kingdom Securities Limited, Co-optrust Investment Services Limited, Co-operative Consultancy & Insurance Agency Limited, Kingdom Bank Limited, and Co-operative Bank of South Sudan.
The leading financial services group has implemented the cooperative model to revolutionize the banking experience in East Africa, leveraging innovative financial solutions to drive social and economic transformation across a broad range of operations.
Muriuki, who sits at the helm of Co-op Bank and ranks as one of Kenya’s leading investors, holds a significant stake of two percent in the leading financial services group. This translates to 117,471,300 ordinary shares in the Nairobi-based lender.
However, his stake has experienced a downturn of Ksh152.71 million ($1.1 million) over the past 76 days, with the market value of his shares falling from Ksh1.57 billion ($11.1 million) as of April 26 to Ksh1.4 billion ($10 million) on July 11.
The $1 million drop in Muriuki’s stake can be attributed to a nearly 10-percent decline in the Co-op Bank Group’s shares on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
Since April 26, Co-op Bank shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange have declined by 9.7 percent, falling from Ksh13.35 ($0.0945) to Ksh12.05 ($0.0853) at the time of drafting this report, as investors trimmed down their holdings in the financial services group, pushing its market capitalization further below the $550 million mark.
