Shareholders will be able to trade their stake at the NSE as soon CIC lists at the bourse. The company, which is Africa’s leading co-operative insurer, is set to list on the NSE on 18th July 2012. The insurer will open its shares to the public without the need to raise any capital. This will enable shareholders to easily determine the company’s worth.
CIC intends to list more than 2 billion shares at a listing price of Ksh3.50. Nelson Kuria, Group CEO, noted that the company chose to list by introduction because it already had sufficient funds to run its programmes.
The company has a Ksh11.1 billion asset base and is looking at investing in the housing sector. It has over 3000 shareholders including Co-operative Insurance Society Ltd with a strategic stake of 74.3%. Individual shareholders represent the remaining 25.7% of the stock. Samora Kariuki, an NIC research analyst says the stock ‘has some potential.’
The company also acquired a 26% stake in Takaful Insurance of Africa (TIA) an Islamic insurance organisation. In 2011 CIC launched an insurance payment system known as M-Bima which is compatible with Safaricom’s M-Pesa.
The Co-operative Bank of Kenya added its stake in the company in October 2011. CIC plans to capitalise on this partnership in order to enhance its market share through bancassurance. This is likely to give the insurer a lasting competitive edge.