The share price of Equity Group on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) encountered a substantial decline, sliding by 6.98 percent.
The lender’s share price declined from Ksh38.70 ($0.260) to Ksh36.00 ($0.242) as of Friday, October 6, 2023.
As a result, the market value of Equity Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Dr. James Mwangi’s stake declined by Ksh202.5 million ($1.4 million) over the past 29 days, declining from Ksh2.90 billion ($19.53 million) on Sept. 6 to Ksh2.7 billion ($18.17 million).
Despite the recent decline, Dr. Mwangi remains one of the richest investors on the NSE.
Between July 25 and Sept. 6, the market value of Dr. Mwangi’s stake in Equity Group slumped from Ksh5.74 billion ($39.29 million) on July 25 to Ksh4.88 billion ($33.43 million) on September 6.
Equity Group has become a dominant force in East and Central Africa under the leadership of Dr. Mwangi who owns 3.38 percent of the group.
His strategic vision has expanded the lender’s operations into multiple countries, including Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The slump in share price coincides with Kenya’s stock market’s dismal performance globally.
Large-cap stocks like KCB Group took the biggest hit, losing 30 percent during the quarter – reported Bloomberg.
So far this year, Kenya’s stock benchmark has lost a quarter of its value, marking it the worst performance among country indexes.
“We expect the equities market to take a hit, especially given the rising interest rates environment that we’re in, said Wesley Manambo, a senior associate for research at Nairobi-based Standard Investment Bank Ltd.
