Billionaire Kenyan investor Baloobhai Patel has acquired more Absa Bank shares that are valued at around Sh. 59 million.
According to an annual report by Absa Bank that lists the top thirty shareholders, Baloobhai Patel has moved up the scale after acquiring an additional 5 million shares worth Sh. 58.75 from the trading cost of Sh. 11.75 per share.
This acquisition has entrenched his position as the singke largest individual investor at Absa.
At the end of the year 2021, Patel held 42.5 million shares which was equal to a stake of 0.78 per cent. He acquired an additional 5 million shares to take his stake to 47.5 million representing a 0.88 per cent stake.
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From this stake, Patel received Sh. 54.7 million as a final dividend from Absa Bank’s Sh. 1.15 per share and a total of Sh. 64.2 million for the financial year ended December 2022.
Over the years, Patel has established himself as one of the major local individual investors at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
Currently, Patel is the second largest individual local investor at Co-operative Bank. In March 2023, he was reported to have acquired an additional 14.6 million Co-op Bank shares that were valued at Sh. 188.8 million.
Filings by the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm show that Mr Patel raised his holdings in Co-op Bank to 55.1 million shares at the end of last month from 40.4 million shares as of December 31, 2022.
This led to his stake in the country’s third largest bank rising to 0.94 per cent –with a current market value of Sh. 683.8 million— from 0.69 per cent over the same period.
Patel also has a stake at Bamburi Cement. He spent more than Sh. 300 million to buy an additional 7.9 million shares of Bamburi in 2021, more than doubling his holdings to 14.9 million shares equivalent to a 4.12 per cent stake.
