Billionaire businessman Peter Munga has transferred part of his Britam shares into a new investment vehicle, indicating a potential plan to either sell a portion of his stake or undertake succession planning for his estate.
Latest shareholder filings in Britam’s 2023 annual report reveal that EH Venture Capital Kenya Limited, a firm where Munga holds a controlling stake, moved 173.27 million shares—equivalent to a 6.87 percent stake—last year to a new entity named EHL 2022 Limited. These shares have a current market value of KES 984 million, based on Britam’s closing price of KES 5.68 as of yesterday.
At the start of 2023, EH Venture Capital Kenya held 405 million Britam shares, representing 16.05 percent of the company’s total issued shares. Following the transfer, the investment vehicle retains 231.73 million shares, or 9.18 percent. Filings at the Business Registration Service (BRS) indicate that EHL 2022 Limited is registered under Mr. Munga’s name.
Mr. Munga, who was instrumental in forming the group of anchor shareholders at Britam’s listing in 2011, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. At the time of listing, his stake was 16 percent, primarily held through Equity Holdings Limited, Filimbi Limited, and in his own name.
Equity Holdings Limited, now renamed EH Ventures Capital Kenya Ltd, initially held 405 million shares, with ownership split between Mr. Munga (55.6 percent) and city lawyer Jane Wanjiru Michuki (44.4 percent). Filimbi Ltd, meanwhile, held 90 million shares, split equally between Mr. Munga and Jane Wangui Njuguna, wife of Equity Group CEO James Mwangi. As of June 2023, shares under Filimbi had decreased to 18.92 million units due to sales over the years.
In July 2016, Mr. Munga temporarily acquired an additional 452.5 million Britam shares from former director Dawood Rawat, who was embroiled in a $693 million Ponzi scheme in Mauritius. Munga purchased these shares under Plum LLP to eliminate investor uncertainty. He later sold these shares in 2017 and 2018, although the financial details remain undisclosed.
Mr. Munga initially sold 104 million units in the open market in 2017, before offloading the remaining 348.5 million units to Zurich-based insurance firm Swiss Re in 2018. Swiss Re later increased its stake by purchasing 50 million shares from Britam co-founder Jimnah Mbaru, bringing its total to 398.5 million units.
The value of long-term Britam shareholders was further diluted in 2017 and 2018 when the company issued new shares to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and private equity firm AfricInvest, raising KES 9.2 billion in new capital. The IFC acquired 224.2 million shares at KES 15.85 per share in September 2017, while AfricInvest took up 360.8 million shares in May 2018 at the same price and later bought an additional 82 million shares in the open market, raising its stake to 442 million shares.
The depreciation of Britam stock from its listing price of KES 9 per share has impacted the overall worth of anchor shareholders. As of yesterday, Britam was trading at KES 5.68 per share, having not traded above the listing price since June 2020.
