The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) pumped Sh36.3 billion into the initial public offering (IPO) of Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), unmasking the identity of the top shareholder who earlier opted to remain secret.
The State-backed pension scheme got a 22.2 percent stake in the freshly listed firm, making it the second-largest shareholder behind the government, regulatory documents seen by the Business Daily show.
About 90 percent of the top owners of KPC Plc bought their shares through proxies during the firm’s IPO, keeping the identity of the investors anonymous.
Regulatory filings show that 18 of the top 20 shareholders of KPC are under nominee accounts after demand from Kenyan institutional investors and the Ugandan government helped the IPO become oversubscribed.
Without the Sh36.3 billion from the NSSF and Uganda’s Sh33.8 billion, the IPO would have collapsed on failure to hit the success level.
It was required to sell shares worth Sh53.1 billion of the Sh106.3 billion shares that were on offer, in what was East Africa’s biggest IPO in local-currency terms.
The sale is part of President William Ruto’s drive to divest from State companies and seek new funding methods.
The government also reduced its stake in telecoms operator Safaricom by 15 percent in a deal worth Sh204 billion.
Of the top KPC shareholders, only the Uganda National Oil Company Limited (UNOC) and Kenya’s Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA) are revealed as beneficial owners with 20.15 percent and 3.06 percent stakes, respectively.
Nominee accounts are registered to hold shares on behalf of the true owners, a structure used globally and at firms listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) to conceal the identity of beneficial owners.
The NSSF has split its stake under several nominee accounts, masking its position as the second-largest shareholder ahead of Uganda, which has a 20.15 percent stake, with the State keeping a 35 percent ownership.
“The National Social Security Fund’s investment in Kenya Pipeline Company was Sh38.2 billion,” said filings from the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) seen by the Business Daily.
“The Sh38.2 billion investment in KPC is their largest investment in any listed equity.”
It holds a multi-billion shilling stake in KCB, MTN Uganda, East Africa Breweries Limited and Absa as part of its equity investment at the Nairobi bourse worth Sh168 billion in June, up from Sh109 billion in December.
The NSSF stake in KPC indicates that the State still enjoys majority given their combined ownership of 57. 2 percent.
This saw the NSSF given a seat on the board, with its managing trustee or alternate directors having joined KPC on July 30, 2026.
The IPO got a subscription rate of 105.7 percent despite earlier concerns over lower valuations from some banks, an extended offer period and reports of investor apathy.
Uganda, a landlocked neighbour that uses the pipeline to move its petroleum products, secured a 20.15 percent stake in the company during the IPO, earning it two board seats and veto over the hiring and firing of KPC chief executive.
The NSSF is flush with cash after the government raised the monthly contributions to the fund from a low of Sh400, including employers’ and employees’ share, in 2022 to a maximum of Sh12,960.
This allowed the fund to collect over Sh100 billion annually from Sh26 billion in 2022, providing it with a war chest for cutting deals.
The NSSF is part of a consortium with a Chinese contractor that is building the Nairobi- Nakuru – Mau Summit expressway at an estimated cost of Sh111.3 billion. It is also scouting for private equity offshore deals in the US and Europe.
The heavy share of proxy accounts in KPC’s top shareholder register contrasts sharply with the ownership structure that emerged after IPOs through privatisation.
Safaricom Plc listed only two nominee accounts among its top 10 shareholders in the year ending March 31, 2009, or months following the 2008 offering of the telecoms firm.
KenGen, which had an IPO in 2005, revealed four nominee accounts among its top 10 shareholders.
Foreigners, local retail investors and oil marketing companies (OMCs) shied away from the oversubscribed IPO.
Local retail investors bought shares worth Sh4.1 billion against their allocation of Sh21.2 billion units, while foreigners spent a measly Sh34.8 million compared to their target of Sh21.2 billion.
Oil marketers took shares worth Sh23.1 million or 0.14 percent of the Sh15.9 billion stocks allocated to the dealers who rely on the pipeline to feed the market.
The concentration of local institutional investors and Uganda implied that the IPO was seen as a long-term strategic investment.
The shares, which were sold at Sh9 each during the IPO, started trading on the Nairobi bourse on March 9 and closed at Sh9.06 at the close of trading.
