Foreign investors made net sales worth Sh10.17 billion on the five largest firms at the Nairobi bourse in the year to April 2026, locking in large capital gains after their share prices rallied in the period.
The foreigners were largely offloading their stock in Safaricom, Equity Group, KCB Group, EABL and Co-operative Bank of Kenya to local institutional investors, who increased their stakes at a time when the blue chips raised their full-year dividends.
The sales were part of overall foreign net outflows of Sh17.4 billion at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) over the one year.
Latest regulatory filings show that the foreign investors cut their stake in Safaricom by 268.77 million shares-valued at Sh8.53billion at the current price- to 2.55 billion units in the 12 months, reducing their share of the company’s issued shares from 7.04 percent to 6.37 percent.
In the period, the company’s share price appreciated by 69 percent to Sh29.70, handing investors who had bought their units at a lower price an incentive to sell up and lock in the capital gains.
At the same time, East African institutional investors raised their holding in the company from 88.55 percent or 35.48 billion shares to 89.37 percent (35.8 billion shares).
Institutional investors such as pension funds tend to have a longer investment horizon compared to their retail counterparts, with their stock picks often informed by factors such as consistent dividend payouts instead of short-term price movements.
‘We have seen foreign investors reallocating capital from the equities market to lock in gains, and they are also aware of a riskier investment environment due to rising inflation,’ said Melodie Ndanu, a research analyst at Standard Investment Bank.
On the KCB stock, offshore investors cut their stake in the bank by 42.78 million shares (valued at Sh2.97 billion) to 285.5 million units, bringing down their holding to 8.88 percent at the end of April from 10.22 percent a year earlier. The stock was among the top banking sector gainers in the period at 74 percent.
Local individual investors also cut their holding in the lender by 47.5 million shares valued at Sh3.3 billion to 785.1 million units, joining the foreigners in cashing in on a 74 percent rally in the bank’s share price to 67 in the one year.
Similar to Safaricom, the increased supply in the lender’s shares from foreigners and retail investors was absorbed by local institutional buyers, who increased their holding by 90.3 million shares to 1.5 billion units. The bank raised its full-year dividend to Sh7 per share in 2025, from Sh3 a year earlier.
EABL saw net sales of 5.98 million shares in the period, valued at Sh1.44 billion, while Co-operative Bank of Kenya saw foreigners reduce their holding by 4.52 million shares valued at Sh144.5 million. EABL’s stock was up 40 percent and Co-op’s by 117 percent in the year to April 2026.
The share of EABL’s shares in the hands of foreigners thus dropped to 9.5 percent from 10.26 percent, and that of Co-op from 0.32 percent to 0.25 percent.
Foreign investors reduced their Equity Group stock by 4.47 million shares, valued at Sh346 million, reducing their exposure on the counter to 1.566 billion units. Their holding accounts for 41.51 percent of the lender’s issued shares, down marginally from 41.52 percent a year ago.
The large blue chips tend to have a larger exposure to foreign investors due to high liquidity, which supports large ticket trades and consistency in paying dividends.
These large firms also enjoy visibility to offshore investors courtesy of their listing on global market trackers such as the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) frontier and small-cap indices.
Kenya’s NSE is represented by 18 companies on the MSCI frontier and small caps indices that are selected based on a number of metrics, including liquidity and financial stability, giving them the exposure to the foreign investors that boosts their price discovery.
Safaricom, Equity Group, EABL, KCB Group, Co-operative Bank and Standard Chartered Bank Kenya are listed on the MSCI frontier markets index, as at the most recent review of November 2025.
BAT Kenya, KenGen, Kenya Re, Kenya Power, DTB Group, Carbacid, Bamburi Cement, Jubilee Holdings, CIC Insurance Group, Williamson Tea Kenya, Centum Investment and HF Group are on the MSCI frontier markets small cap index.
The MSCI tracks the performance of selected large and medium-sized companies in 10 African frontier and emerging markets, as part of its global series of indices that are closely watched by foreign investors.