A large, quiet transfer of Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) shares has become one of the most contested stories in Kenyan markets, after Tinderet’s Ndindi Nyoro alleged that public pension funds were pushed into the IPO and then steered into selling at a loss to a politically connected buyer.
What is established
Unidentified investors transferred 4.5 billion KPC shares worth Sh42.5 billion through the Nairobi bourse, equal to 24.76 percent of the company. That figure sits just under the 25 percent threshold that would have required Capital Markets Authority(CMA) approval.
The IPO itself leaned heavily on state-linked money. NSSF put Sh36.3 billion into the offer, and Uganda put in Sh33.8 billion; without those two, the IPO would have failed to reach the success level. Business Daily also reported that about 90 percent of the top owners bought through proxies, keeping their identities hidden. The shares were sold at Sh9 each and opened trading on March 9.
Nyoro’s suspension from Parliament followed his earlier claims that NSSF, PSSF and Kenya Re were pressured by state operatives to buy KPC shares.
What Nyoro alleges
Nyoro, in an X post, said the President called the heads of several pension and public funds and told them to buy against their own professionals’ advice, and that board minutes were forged and backdated to cover it.
He said the same officials were later told to sell to a “private investor,” that the shares moved at between Sh9.02 and Sh9.36 cum dividend, and that after roughly 1.5 percent brokerage, the funds sold at a loss.
He further alleged that the buyer is a company in which President William Ruto holds private interests, that the investment bank handling the deal is also his, and that the sale fulfils conditions for the Lamu refinery project with Dangote.
He further added that the refinery’s investment agreement and shareholder register are being kept secret and contain terms that bar Kenya from importing competing products.
Where the story stands
None of these claims about the buyer’s identity, the president’s interests, forged minutes or the refinery contract has been proven in the reporting reviewed, and the buyers remain unidentified publicly. There is also a point of dispute: Business Daily reported that the IPO closed at a 105.7 percent subscription, which sits uneasily with Nyoro’s claim of under 3 percent on the final day, though the two may describe different points in the offer period.
The business questions are clear, whoever is right. Who bought the shares? Why was the stake kept just below the regulator’s approval line? Did pension funds sell at a loss, and on whose instruction? And what do the refinery agreements say? Pensioners’ savings are at stake, so the CMA, the funds’ trustees and Parliament have every reason to answer in public.
