Jimnah Mbaru bags Sh425m in Britam share sale

Chairman Occidental Insurance Company Limited (OIC) Jimnah Mbaru speaking to the Media at the new Kisumu Office immediately after he Cut the tap to open the office at the Turf Mall building in Kisumu on 21-5-2017 [Phillip Orwa, Standard]

Businessman, Jimnah Mbaru, has sold 50 million shares in Britam Holdings to Swiss Re in a private transaction.

The shares are worth Sh425 million going by the current share price of Sh8.50 at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

The move will see Swiss Re’s stake in the financial services firm increase to 15.79 per cent, making it one of the largest shareholders.

Recent developments have seen the founding shareholders at Britam slowly cede their stakes, while institutions including Swiss Re move in and now appear to be growing their hold in the firm.

“On April 15, 50 million ordinary shares of Britam Holdings were acquired by Swiss Re. These were acquired from Jimnah Mbaru through a private transaction,” said Britam in a statement yesterday.

“Upon completion, Swiss Re will hold 15.79 per cent of the total issued ordinary shares of Britam Holdings.”

Other than Swiss Re, other foreign institutions that have bought into Britam include the International Finance Corporation (IFC) with a 10.37 per cent stake and AfricInvest with 14.3 per cent.

Mr Mbaru’s stake in the company is now expected to come down to 144.8 million shares when the transaction is concluded. He has over time reduced his stake in the company from 300 million shares in 2011 to the current level.

He, however, made an acquisition of 30 million shares last year in one of the rare instances in the recent past where the billionaire has bought into the company as opposed to selling.

In 2018, another major shareholder, Peter Munga, sold a Sh1.3 billion stake in Britam, bringing down his shareholding from 40.3 per cent in 2016 to 26.8 per cent.

He further surrendered 348.5 million shares worth Sh4.8 billion he held under Plum LLP to Swiss Re, completing his disposal of the 452.5 million shares he acquired from former owner Dawood Rawat in 2016.

Mr Rawat had been accused of running a Ponzi scheme in Mauritius and the proceeds from the sale of his shareholding in Britam were used by the Mauritian government to compensate some of his victims.