Billionaire investor Baloobhai Patel bought an additional 9.17 million shares in Absa Bank Kenya with a current market value of Sh157.7 million in the year ended December 2024, increasing his stake in the company where he is the top individual shareholder.
His ownership in the review period stood at 65.03 million shares equivalent to a 1.2 percent stake, up from the prior year’s 55.8 million shares (1.03 percent), according to disclosures in the lender's latest annual report.
The additional shares have a market value of Sh157.7 million based on Absa’s closing share price of Sh17.2 on Friday.
The lender closed its books on April 30 for the final dividend of Sh1.55 per share, to be paid on May 22.
Mr Patel is expanding his investment in Absa at a time when the lender has raised its dividend payouts on the back of strong profit growth.
The bank increased its total dividend payout by 12.9 percent to Sh1.75 per share, amounting to a record Sh9.5 billion in the year ended December 2024, when its net profit jumped 27.5 percent to Sh20.87 billion.
The higher profit was driven by a 19.2 percent rise in interest income to Sh64.7 billion, while non-funded income grew by 10.7 percent to Sh16 billion.
The latest payout represents a rise from Sh1.55 per share or a total of Sh8.42 billion paid a year earlier when net profit stood at Sh16.3 billion.
Mr Patel’s latest shareholding in Absa means he will earn a dividend of Sh113.8 million per year, making him one of the top earners on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
Absa is one of the NSE-listed firms where Mr Patel has significant stakes. His multi-billion-shilling equities portfolio includes holdings in Carbacid Investments, Sanlam Kenya and Co-operative Bank of Kenya, where he has also been increasing his stake.
Mr Patel purchased an additional 8.8 million shares of Co-op Bank with a current market value of Sh126.7 million, raising his stake to a new high of 1.7 percent at the end of January.
Co-op Bank’s latest disclosures show that Mr Patel purchased the extra shares, raising his stake from 1.55 percent in September last year.
The additional shares are worth Sh126.7 million, based on Co-op Bank's share price of Sh14.4 on Friday.
Mr Patel has been accumulating shares in the lender for years and his purchases bring his stake closer to that of the bank's chief executive Gideon Muriuki, who remains the top individual investor with an ownership of two percent.
Investors have been attracted to the bank because of its incremental dividend payouts, with the lender funding its growth from retaining part of its earnings.
