Post by subsaharanite on Dec 5, 2011 22:12:18 GMT 3
Kenya’s rebel tycoon Chris Kirubi is now the largest individual shareholder in the Kenya Power & Lighting company (KPLC), Kenya’s Business Daily has reported.
Kirubi, 70, a shrewd property developer and investor, quietly snapped up millions of ordinary shares in the electricity distributor in December last year, when the Nairobi Stock Exchange-listed company offered more than 480 million shares to the Kenyan public through a widely publicized rights issue.
The 20 Most Powerful People In African Business Mfonobong Nsehe Mfonobong Nsehe Contributor
Meet Chris Kirubi, Mr. Kenya Mfonobong Nsehe Mfonobong Nsehe Contributor
Ten Business Tips From Kenyan Multi-Millionaire Chris Kirubi Mfonobong Nsehe Mfonobong Nsehe Contributor
But even though Kirubi now holds sway as KPLC’s largest individual shareholder, his stake in the company is rather diminutive and accounts for less than 1% of the firm’s total market cap. The Real Estate developer and disc jockey owns 0.79% of the company currently valued at about Ksh225 million- slightly less than $3 million.
KPLC’s largest shareholder at the moment is the Kenyan government, which controls a 50% stake. KPLC is the country’s 2nd largest electricity provider behind Kenya Electricity Generating Company, and has a current market cap in the region of $350 million, making it one of Kenya’s largest public corporations.
While Kirubi’s 0.8% stake gives him very little or no voting rights in influencing key strategic decisions for the company, it does give him one thing – exclusive bragging rights. Kirubi can now swank to his friends at the golf course about owning the largest individual stake in yet another Kenyan blue chip. Apart from KPLC, Kirubi is the largest individual shareholder of Centum, one of East Africa’s largest investment holding companies, as well as real estate firm International House Limited, among others.
Kirubi, worth $300 million by Forbes’ recent estimate for the list of Africa’s 40 Richest, started building his fortune in the 70s and 80s by buying up dilapidated real estate properties in Nairobi, renovating and flipping for a profit. He now owns one of Kenya’s largest legally-acquired property portfolios and spends his idle time disc jockeying for Capital FM, a Nairobi-based radio station that he also own