Kenbe Investments, an investment fund controlled by William Byaruhanga, former Ugandan Attorney General, has acquired half of the shares of an investment vehicle called Bakki Holdings Company from Centum Investments for 1.03 billion Ksh (approximately 7.95 million USD). As a result, Mr. Byaruhanga and his company now own 14.63% of the shares belonging to Centum Investment in the Kenyan Sidian Bank.
The lawyer, who served as Uganda’s Attorney General from 2016 to 2021, is now the fourth largest shareholder of the bank. “Our stake in Sidian Bank has decreased from 20% to 14.63%, with a current book value of 7.71 million USD, up from 6.94 million USD in the previous year,” Centum Investments stated in its annual report.
“The reduction in our stake was not due to share sales, but rather the result of dilution of shareholding resulting from a rights issue in Sidian Bank during the year,” added the investment company, also noting that Mr. Byaruhanga did not participate in the rights issue.
He is a close ally of President Yoweri Museveni and owns luxury properties in Kampala and other regions of the country.
From prosecutor to businessman
Other assets include a hotel, a sugar company, and a stake in the Kampala law firm Kasirye, Byaruhanga and Company Advocates.
In 2021, he decided not to run for another term as Attorney General in order to focus on expanding his business empire.
Following the gradual decline in Centum’s stake in the bank, with new owners taking control, Bakki’s shares were split in the context of increased agreements at Sidian.
These agreements come after Centum decided in January 2023 to terminate an agreement with Access Bank of Nigeria to sell its 83.4% stake in Sidian for 33.19 million USD.
If the deal had gone through, it would have been Access Bank’s second acquisition in Kenya after purchasing Transnational Bank, now known as Access Bank Kenya, in 2020.
