NSSF eases grip on KenGen by Billwydad Wangai

Mr Albert Mugo, KenGen managing director. PHOTO | FILE 

The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has traded its 17.3 million shares in Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), losing its long-held position as the second largest investor in the power producer.

KenGen’s latest annual report shows that the fund had exited the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm’s list of top owners as of June, having held the shares equivalent to a 0.8 per cent stake in December 2014.
The shares traded by NSSF are currently worth Sh134 million based on the power producer’s current share price of Sh7.7 apiece.

A local institution, investing under a Co-op Bank custody account, is now the second largest shareholder of KenGen with 13.1 million shares.

The exit of NSSF is a rare one for the government-controlled fund that typically invests long term, especially in firms where the State has a significant or majority stake.

The fund’s current co-investments with the government include substantial interests in KCB Group, National Bank of Kenya and Safaricom.

Its KenGen divestiture comes ahead of a rights issue announced by the power producer that is expected to raise Sh28.6 billion.

Only the government, with a 70 per cent interest in KenGen, will participate in the cash call without putting in new money.

The government will instead convert its debts amounting to Sh20 billion into shares, leaving other investors to provide the remaining Sh8.6 billion in cash to avoid dilution.