Africap Offloads 15M Equity Shares after 5 Years

5 year period
The expiry of the 5 year lock in period where initial shareholders of the company (This was placed on ther principle shareholders of the company when the bank wenbt public in 2006).The principle shareholders were not to sell their shares until after August 2008 when the period would expire for Equity. The expiry of this period saw the opening of a window of opportunity for Africap to offload its shares though three months latter in December.

Shares
The firm sold the shares for Sh2.5 billion, reaping one of the highest returns from equity investment in Kenya over a five-year period. AfriCap was one of the seven large shareholders, who the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) had barred from selling Equity Bank shares before August, 2008.

Equity Shareholders
-Private Equity firm Helios EB held 24.23% of the bank’s shares by end of March 2008
-British American Investments-10.73%
-Dr. Mwangi-5.3%.
-Mr Nelson Njoroge 6%
-John Mwangi 4.58%
-Africap 4.02%
-Equity Bank’s Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOPs)held 4.02 per cent.
-The rest of the shareholders in the bank had less than 2.93 per cent shares.

Benefits
Over the years Equity has split it shares, issued dividends and bonuses and continued to post strong profit margins alongside receiving major local as well as global awards in microfinance as well as innovative banking.

Expansion
In Kenya the Company continues to expand its customer base, branch network and ATM machines to serve a wider clientele Recently the company enterred into stock dealerships with the listing of Safaricom IPO alongside its insurance products and real estate development loans available to its clients. The company also acquired 24.9% of Housing Finance successfully enterring into the housing and property development market.
Equity Bank closed 2008 as the only stock at the NSE to post positive returns oscillating between Ksh 155 and 176 by end of December 2008.

Financial supermarket
Equity is endeavoring to become a financial supermarket of sorts with its diverse poducts lines and synergetic engagements but more still needs to be done to harnsaess these opportunities for the betterment of its services.

Parting shot!
Apart from long ATM queues amidst continually broken down ATM machines, hectic banking hall escapades, Overworked staff, and seemingly swelling cleintele base that may not be sufficiently served by the bank, Equity still rocks and its shares are set to go places in 2009!

The Changing Faces of Banks in 2007

Radical changes
The banking sector has come a long way and with mergers and acquisitions in the offing as well as the emergence of near financial supermarkets the future is indeed bright for our banks.

Investors
Most investors in banks stocks have often made a kill over the last few years with splits, dividends, bonuses and price appreciations having been witnessed.

New products
The banking sector is indeed undergoing radical changes and new products are being unveiled everyday target the larger populace as oppossed to the big-mans-bank syndrome that had been evident a few years ago. Banks are now literally going to the streets to hawk their wares and sell the loans to every would be buyer with little or no requirements at all.

Interest rates and competition
Interest rates have dropped drastically as banks strive to offer cheap products to borrowers for their businesses and other needs.Competition in the banking industry is indeed evident and every new day new banks are emerging.

New Banks
Most non deposit taking institutions are now converting into microfinances and finally banks in a matter of years and the number of banks is increasing by the day.

Banking stocks
The banking stocks have continued to soar to new record highs never witnessed before as investors both local and foreign rally to buy them.

Cross border trading
These banks have even dared to cross border to other regions talk of KCB in Uganda and southern Sudan where it continues to serve its customers. Others are savouring the region for strategic partners to inject new blood inform of liquidity into the system talk of Equity and Helios deal as well as Stanbic and CFC deal.

Stock broking
Other banks are craving for a piece of the stock market pie with ventures into stockbroking. NIC failed bid for the stake of the collapsed Francis Thuo (won by renaissance capital) has seen it partner with another securities dealer. Talk about slowly getting their.

Asset Finance
Asset finance is becoming the talk of town with considerably lower interest rates charged by banks for the same. This was started by NIC bank but now adopted by NBK, KCB, Equity, Family Bank, Stanbic and the list is growing.

...and the changes go on...

Of Investment Groups and Target Products

Investment Club
Now that it is evident that over the recent past, the number of investment clubs also called investment groups has grown phenomenally. An investment club is a group of individuals who meet on a regular basis for the purpose of investing money.

Contribution
The invested sums can be as little as $10 a month. The first investment club on record dates back to the 1800s in Western America. Various online communities devoted to this type of investing have recently emerged and have contributed to the personal investing boom in the United States. One of the reasons that people come together in investment clubs is to learn how to invest. While investment clubs are commonly organized with members contributing money and investing as a group in a single club portfolio, members of other self directed Investment clubs simply meet and learn about investing but invest on their own. With the advent of computers and the internet investment clubs have also moved into cyberspace.
Investment clubs are generally formed as general partnerships, but could also be formed as limited liability companies or limited liability partnerships (in states that allow them). more on wikipedia

Membership
Joining one has become almost the norm. An investment club is typically a group of family, friends or co-workers who have teamed up together to pool funds and invest them collectively in assets such as the stock market and real estate.For an investment group to work, it is important for you to look for like minded individuals who are committed and intent on going to the next level. Look for people who want to share research and knowledge about the market. Look for people who are pursuing different careers from your own so that you can have a mix of ideas. more on businessdaily.

New Products
Equity Bank, Britak and Housing Finance have launched a product targeting these investment groupds dubbed Hekima Milele that ius set to radically change the way investment groups have been doing their business. Talk about a financial supermarket and its new products!

Tips
Some useful tips on starting and running a successful investment club are available. Smaple this:
-How to start a club i.e starting and running profitable investment clubs.
-Learning from the wonderful world of proshare investment clubs.
-Endeavoring to undertake better-investing.
-Australian stock exchange tips on investment clubs.