Ndindi Nyoro breaks silence on his KPLC shares
By Mathew.Ndungu, September 12, 2022Kiharu Member of Parliament (MP) Ndindi Nyoro has broken his silence after information went around that he had tripled his Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) shares from 9,116,800 shares at the end of June 2021 to 27,291,400 shares by the end of June 2022.
An astute entrepreneur and investor, the lawmaker acquired the KPLC shares between June 2021 and June 2022 tripling his shareholding according to the latest filings by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA).
The triple shareholding saw him move from the 12th position to the third largest shareholder, only coming behind the government and bank-owned shares.
But the second-term lawmaker now says he is just a mere silent retail investor who has zero powers to make decisions on the operations of the power company.
In a long Facebook post made today, September 12, Nyoro indicated that his being in the limelight for purchasing more KPLC shares was neither here nor there as some of his fellow shareholders who are ahead of him in shareholding have used nominee accounts to hide their identities.
“Some shareholders prefer to use their actual names while investing, others use “nominee accounts” to hide identities. We are in the earlier category since we don’t see the need to use the latter one. Majority of the top shareholders have chosen “nominee accounts”. Some are individuals, others pension funds,” he revealed.
KPLC share price
Nyoro says his accumulation of wealth through the purchase of KPLC shares dates back to his schooling years when he was a first-year student at Kenyatta University (KU).
“We started off in stockbroking from 1st year in campus (KU). Thereafter running a firm in the sector. And later a Private Equity (PE) firm,” he noted stating that he chose to purchase KPLC shares as the stock is cheap.
He insisted that while KPLC was running on debt as it has huge unpaid bills, his investment is long term and he remains optimistic that the power giant will once roar back.
“Investment decisions are two-sided. There are reasons why the Market has undervalued Kenya Power including the high debt Portfolio, huge unpaid bills, especially from GoK, and inefficiencies stemming from being “government-run”. Most investors, us included are holding for long term with the hope that the sleeping giant can roar with a few streamlining measures,” he added.
He upheld that he invested with KPLC when the economy was battered and the Securities Exchange was bearish.
“After President Kibaki took over, a lot happened that hugely increased the returns of shareholders. I know of an investor in KQ then whose investment of Ksh 500k turned to Ksh 70M. Some Equity Bank and Coop bank shareholders from our villages became millionaires out of their investments in the companies especially before listing and immediately after listing,” he noted.
“Any Kenyan can buy shares. You just need to open a CDS account from a stockbroking firm. Many banks also offer those services,” he said.