Kenyan politician Musalia Mudavadi is paying $29 million to buy back insurers he sold Barclays

An investment company linked to Musalia Mudavadi, Kenya's Prime Cabinet Secretary, is buying Absa Group's controlling stakes in two Kenyan insurers, reversing a sale he made to the same buyer eleven years ago.

Absa Group announced on Thursday evening that it had signed a sale and purchase agreement with First Assurance Investments Limited covering its entire 63.32 percent shareholding in both First Assurance Company Limited and Absa Life Assurance Kenya Limited. Sources close to the transaction expect Absa to seek at least $29.4 million (3.8 billion shillings) for the two blocks.

A search of the public registry shows First Assurance Investments is owned 52.5 percent by Syndicate Nominees, a company Mudavadi told parliament he owned during his vetting for the Prime Cabinet Secretary post in 2022. Exclusive Holding Limited, an investment firm with roots in Mombasa, holds the remaining 47.5 percent.

Mudavadi and his partners sold the First Assurance shares to Barclays Africa, which later became Absa, in 2015 for $17.0 million (2.2 billion shillings). Business Daily reported that the new transaction will return those shares to them.

His exposure to the business runs through two channels. Mudavadi holds First Assurance through First Assurance Investments and directly through Syndicate Nominees, which owns 12.35 percent, giving him a combined 21.26 percent stake before the Absa blocks change hands.

Officials at the Insurance Regulatory Authority confirmed the deal, which lands amid a run of transactions across Kenyan insurance involving Sanlam, Jubilee and Britam.

Mudavadi declared a net worth of $31.7 million (4.1 billion shillings) to the National Assembly Committee on Appointments on Oct. 17, 2022, placing him among the wealthiest members of the Kenyan cabinet. Property accounted for much of it. His holdings in the upmarket Riverside Estate were valued at $7.7 million (1 billion shillings), and he disclosed rental office blocks worth $6.7 million (870 million shillings) held through Tritone Investments.

The rest of the declaration covered shares in Absa Bank and First Assurance Company, a $1.5 million (200 million shilling) holding in Exclusive Air Services Ltd, which leases helicopters, and stakes in the investment firms Jodeci Investment and Malulu Land and Developments, worth $928,000 (120 million shillings) and $1.9 million (250 million shillings). He also declared high-end cars valued at $340,000 (44 million shillings).

The assets he is acquiring occupy the middle of the Kenyan market. Absa Life ranks seventh among life insurers and First Assurance Kenya thirteenth among general insurers, in a country where insurance penetration remains around 3 percent.

Absa is leaving direct insurance ownership across the continent while deepening its banking presence in the same markets. The group has switched to selling insurance through its branches rather than underwriting it, an arrangement that earns commission without committing capital.

"We switched to a bancassurance distribution model with key partners across our Africa regions, hence selling our insurance businesses in Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique," Absa said in its 2025 annual report.

The economics explain the decision. Absa Bank Kenya lifted net profit from bancassurance 35 percent to $10.1 million (1.3 billion shillings) in the year to December 2025, the highest of any Kenyan bank. Absa Life's net profit fell 26 percent to $6.1 million (790.1 million shillings) over the same period.

Absa Financial Services sold its entire holding in Absa Life Botswana to Hollard International, the international arm of South Africa's Hollard Insurance Group, last year, and disposed of Absa Life Zambia and its Mozambique insurance operations to the same buyer.

The retreat from insurance runs alongside an expansion in Kenyan banking. Absa is raising its stake in Absa Bank Kenya to 85 percent from 68.5 percent through a $238.9 million (30.9 billion shilling) transaction.

First Assurance is among the oldest insurers in the country. It began trading in Kenya as Prudential Assurance Company in 1930, and Kenyan investors bought out the British owners entirely in 1991. Absa Life Assurance Kenya is far newer, receiving its licence from the regulator in 2015 and becoming the first Kenyan life insurer to distribute through a bank.

Other shareholders in First Assurance include Stephen Githiga, the former chief executive of First Assurance Company and of Sasini, with 4 percent. Chandaria Ventures Limited, associated with Darshan Chandaria and Neer Chandaria, holds 1.67 percent. Epoch Investments Limited, associated with Jambojet chairman Ayisi Makatiani, and Absa Pension Services Limited hold 0.84 percent each.

The transaction requires regulatory approval.