CEO Gideon Muriuki tightens grip on Co-op Bank shares 25 years on and counting
The 5.5 million shares additional stake worth Sh148.5 million raises his stake from 2.2 per cent to 2.3 per cent making the long serving MD the bank’s largest individual shareholder
The Co-operative Bank of Kenya Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gideon Muriuki has further consolidated his position as the lender’s largest individual shareholder after acquiring an additional 5.5 million shares as the stock trades near a one-year high.
Regulatory filings show that Muriuki now holds 135 million shares, equivalent to a 2.3 per cent stake, up from 2.21 per cent in May 2025.
The additional shares, purchased gradually over seven months to December, are valued at approximately Sh148.5million based on the current trading price of Sh27 per share. While the percentage increase appears modest, the purchases are significant in absolute value and reinforce his position atop the bank’s individual shareholders’ register.
Muriuki has served as the Group MD and CEO of Co-operative Bank of Kenya for quarter a century now since his appointment in March 2001.
His continued accumulation of shares comes at a time when the lender is enjoying strong market momentum, with the stock up 71.65 per cent over the past 12 months. Shares recently touched a 52-week high of Sh27.95 before settling slightly lower.
Also, the larger position keeps him the biggest individual investor in the Nairobi Securities Exchange listed lender, ahead of other shareholders.
Businessman Baloobhai Patel has also accumulated Co-op Bank shares over several years, but stopped after reaching 100 million shares, equivalent to a 1.7 per stake, the regulatory disclosures show. That leaves him second among individual investors, behind the chief executive.
Co-op Bank reported a 12.3 per cent increase in net profit to Sh21.56billion in the nine months to September, supported by a 22.8 per cent jump in net interest income as lending expanded and yields improved.
The earnings growth has translated into a more shareholder-friendly dividend policy, with the bank declaring its first interim dividend of Sh1 per share. If the final dividend matches last year’s Sh1.5, total payouts would rise by two-thirds to Sh2.5 per share.
