Centum Investment chief executive James Mworia. FILE PHOTO | NMG Centum Investment-owned Bakki Holdico Limited, has acquired all the shares of the late ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat in Sidian Bank, raising its stake in the tier III lender above 80 per cent.
Sidian bank discloses this in the latest annual report which shows that the family of the diplomat sold its entire 8,254 shares or 0.2 per cent stake in the bank to Bakki, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Centum Investment.
The transaction saw Bakki’s shareholding move from 79.99 per cent to 80.19 per cent or 3,281,591 shares valued at Sh1.64 billion.
This means that Centum, which directly holds a 2.01 per cent stake in Sidian now has an effective shareholding of 82.2 per cent.
Centum had last year completed the disposal of entire equity stakes in Almasi Beverages, Nairobi Bottlers and King Beverage Limited, realising proceeds of Sh19.6 billion.
Each of Sidian’s share has been valued at Sh0.50 meaning that Kiplagat’s family received at least Sh4.13 million from the transaction.
The sale saw the late Kiplagat relinquish his position as tenth highest investor in Sidian to Aleke Dondo who served as the managing director of K-Rep Development Agency through 2012.
Ambassador Kiplagat died in July 2017. He was a former diplomat and a long-serving government official who also chaired the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission.
Other top shareholders in Sidian include K-Rep Group Limited (12.25 per cent), KWA Multi-Purpose Co-op (3.5 per cent), Kimanthi Mutua (0.51 per cent) and Sarah Godana (0.38 per cent).
Sidian last year bounced from a loss of Sh377.9 million to book a net profit of Sh112.49 million, the best performance in four years.
The bank in March last year received Sh1.22 billion ($12 million) long-term funding from Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU) to support tier-II capital.Sidian Bank chairman James Mworia last year said if the Dutch fund opts to exercise the conversation right, it would take up about 20 per cent stake of the bank.
