Billionaire investor Baloobhai Patel has taken a 1.29 percent stake in Co-operative Bank of Kenya after buying an additional 20.5 million shares that were valued at Sh232 million at Wednesday’s market close.
The businessman, whose interests span real estate and listed equities, has been accumulating shares of Co-op Bank over the years amid the bear run that has left most banking stocks undervalued.
Regulatory filings show that Mr Patel had acquired a cumulative 75.6 million shares of Co-op Bank—currently valued at Sh855.2 million—at the end of December 2023.
This was an increase from 55.1 million shares equivalent to a 0.94 percent stake he held in February 2023. The additional share purchases have cemented his position as the second-largest individual investor in the bank. Co-op Bank chief executive Gideon Muriuki is the top individual investor in the institution where he has a two percent stake.
The bank now ranks among Mr Patel’s major investments on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, with the stake set to earn him more than Sh100 million in dividends per annum.
