(NAIROBI, KENYA) – Telposta Pension Scheme sold shares worth KES 361.28 million ($2.8 million) in 11 Nairobi Securities Exchange listed firms in the financial year ended June 2026 to settle retiree obligations and fund property renovations.
The disposals represented a 41 fold increase from the KES 8.78 million ($67,900) worth of shares sold in the previous financial year, halving the scheme’s equities portfolio to KES 221.46 million ($1.7 million) from KES 440.35 million ($3.4 million).
Telposta Pension Scheme administrator Peter Rotich said the trustees liquidated part of the equities portfolio to boost liquidity and meet immediate financial obligations, including pension payments to retirees.
He attributed the decision to delays in concluding the sale of properties valued at KES 9.62 billion ($74.4 million), including Telposta Towers, whose disposal had been expected to strengthen the scheme’s liquidity position.
“We had expected to receive the money much earlier to boost our liquidity and reinvest more in equities and government securities. However, because of the delays, we had to liquidate some of our equity investments to meet expenses, including paying members and meeting other administrative expenses,” he said in an interview.
The scheme paid retirees KES 828.12 million ($6.4 million) in pension benefits during the review period, a slight decline from KES 843.02 million ($6.5 million) in the previous financial year.
The scheme has reached agreements with the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy, the National Police Service and the Ministry of Defence for the purchase of four properties in Nairobi, Mombasa and Gilgil, but the first payment is yet to be made.
The sales of shares left the scheme holding 4.57 million shares across the listed companies, down from 13.35 million shares a year earlier.
The scheme booked a gain of KES 72.45 million ($560,800) from the sale of shares that included Safaricom, Kenya Power and banks, coming in the period most of the NSE stocks were posting gains.
Financial statements for the year ended June 2026 show that the scheme disposed of 3.69 million Safaricom shares, 1.42 million Kenya Power shares and 1.14 million Equity Group shares.
Other disposals included KCB Group (865,132), NCBA Group (620,642), Co-operative Bank of Kenya (174,600) and 156,235 East African Breweries shares.
The scheme also sold 84,954 Absa Bank Kenya shares, Britam Holdings (42,380), Standard Chartered Bank Kenya (20,575) and 47 CIC Insurance Group shares.
Mr Rotich explained that besides meeting pension obligations, the scheme had incurred substantial pre disposal expenses to renovate properties and make them attractive to prospective government buyers.
“For example, we were evicting occupants from our 68 acre property in Gilgil while also renovating the housing units. Both activities required substantial financing. We also had to renovate houses ahead of the planned sale,” he said.
The renovations covered properties comprising 174 housing units in Gilgil, 124 along Jogoo Road in Nairobi, 100 in Makande and 88 in Bombolulu, Mombasa.
Mr Rotich said the scheme expects to recover the renovation expenses through property sales, arguing that improving the condition of the houses would strengthen its bargaining position.
The scheme expects the disposals to release funds for pension payments and reinvestment in assets offering higher returns.