Stockbrokers operating at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) earned billions in commissions after facilitating a massive Safaricom share transaction that ranked among the largest deals in the market’s history.
The windfall came after a government-led stake sale in Safaricom that saw billions of shares change hands in a single block transaction, generating a total turnover of more than Sh20 billion.
Under the arrangement, KCB Capital acted on behalf of the seller, the National Treasury, while SBG Securities represented the buying side, linked to South Africa’s Vodacom Group. The deal involved over six billion Safaricom shares priced at around Sh34 each.
Industry estimates indicate that the two lead brokerage firms earned roughly Sh2 billion each from the transaction, translating into a combined payout of about Sh4 billion. The earnings were driven by a negotiated commission of about 1 percent, which is typical for large institutional trades of this scale.
The transaction also included additional smaller share movements involving other investors, pushing overall market activity on the Safaricom counter even higher.
Such large-scale deals highlight how investment banks and stockbrokers continue to benefit significantly from government divestitures and corporate restructurings, where fees are often negotiated rather than fixed retail rates.
Market analysts note that brokerage income from these rare mega-deals can outweigh earnings from months of ordinary trading activity, reinforcing the importance of institutional transactions to the sector’s profitability.
The Safaricom stake sale is part of ongoing efforts by the government to reduce its holding in the telecom giant while attracting strategic investors and boosting liquidity in the capital markets.