NSSF Acquires Additional 11M Shares in KCB

The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has bought an additional 11.7 million shares of KCB Group, raising its stake to a new high of 8.38%.

The shares have a current market value of Ksh440.5 million and raised NSSF’s holdings to 269.2 million in March.

NSSF is the second-largest investor in KCB after the National Treasury which has a 19.76% stake. The state-controlled fund has been steadily increasing its ownership in the lender over the years.

The latest investments comes as banks in general continue to post strong profit growth, recovering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

KCB’s net income increased by 74% to Ksh34.09 billion in the year ended December 2021. It tripled its dividend payout to Ksh3 per share.

KCB says it is still keen on expanding in the regional market through acquisitions and is eyeing Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as potentials. The bank, which is the second largest in Kenya, already has a subsidiary in Tanzania.

In 2021, the bank acquired a 62.06% stake in Rwanda’s Banque Populaire du Rwanda Plc (BPR) from Atlas Mara, expanding in the market where it was already running a subsidiary (KCB Bank Rwanda).