Telposta pension scheme sells KSh361m in NSE shares as property sales stall

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Telposta Pension Scheme sold KSh361.28m worth of shares in 11 companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) in the year to June 2026, as delays in selling its property left it short of cash.

The sales were about 41 times the KSh8.78m worth of shares the scheme sold a year earlier, and they roughly halved its equities portfolio, which fell to KSh221.46m from KSh440.35m. The number of listed shares it holds dropped to 4.57 million from 13.35 million.

Property deals slower than planned

Scheme administrator Peter Rotich said the trustees sold the shares to raise money for pension payments and day-to-day costs after the sale of properties valued at KSh9.62bn, including Telposta Towers in Nairobi, took longer than expected.

“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,” Rotich said.

The scheme has agreed deals with the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy, the National Police Service and the Ministry of Defence to buy four properties in Nairobi, Mombasa and Gilgil, but no payment has yet been received.

Pension payouts to retirees came to KSh828.12m in the year, slightly lower than the KSh843.02m paid in the previous year.

Safaricom and banks led the disposals

The scheme’s financial statements show it sold 3.69 million Safaricom shares, 1.42 million Kenya Power shares and 1.14 million Equity Group shares. It also sold 865,132 KCB Group shares, 620,642 NCBA Group shares, 174,600 Co-operative Bank shares and 156,235 East African Breweries shares.

Smaller sales covered 84,954 Absa Bank Kenya shares, 42,380 Britam Holdings shares, 20,575 Standard Chartered Bank Kenya shares and 47 CIC Insurance Group shares.

Because the sales came during a stretch when most NSE stocks were rising, the scheme booked a gain of KSh72.45m on the disposals. Market moods can turn quickly, though, as shown when the NSE shed KSh40bn in a single week on foreign selling.

Renovating houses before the sale

Part of the cash went into getting properties ready for government buyers. Rotich said the scheme had been removing occupants from its 68-acre property in Gilgil while renovating the housing units there, work he said “required substantial financing”.

The renovations covered 174 housing units in Gilgil, 124 along Jogoo Road in Nairobi, and 100 in Makande and 88 in Bombolulu, both in Mombasa. Rotich said the scheme expects to recover the costs when the properties are sold, since houses in better condition should fetch better terms.

A scheme heavy on property

The share sales are part of a wider shake-up. In April, Rotich said the scheme planned to exit close to KSh10bn of property, after the National Treasury approved the move. At the time, about 83% of its assets were tied up in real estate, far above the 30% limit set under retirement benefits rules, and the scheme had about 6,000 members.

He said then that money from the property sales would go into government bonds, NSE-listed equities and possibly infrastructure funds, and that better liquidity could allow the trustees to seek approval to review pensions for retirees earning as little as KSh5,000 a month.

For savers in other schemes, the case shows why the mix of assets matters. Workers who want to know what they can access from their own pot can read our guide to pension withdrawal rules when leaving a job, while a SanlamAllianz survey found more than half of job leavers tap their pensions early.