Businessman Joel Kibe has filed an intent to appeal motion accusing a high court judge of failing to grant prayers contained in a petition in which he seeks to be bought out by the Old Mutual Holdings.

While he had accused the insurer of trampling on rights of minority investors by failing to list on the Nairobi Stock Exchange and taking huge loans from its parent company opaquely, Kibe through his lawyers also wants an assessment of the amount of money to be deposited in the escrow account as determined by Judge Josephine Wayua Mong’are.

Judge Mong’are in a ruling dated 28th of February 2025 allowed the Old Mutual to proceed with intended disposal of the UAP Tower in in Upperhill on condition that a sum KSh500 million from the sale proceeds is held in an escrow account by the Advocates for both the Applicant and the Respondent pending the hearing and determination of the suit.

The businessman in his petition had prayed for the freezing of any sale of assets owned by Old Mutual, incurring any debt or transferring funds out of Kenya until the matter was determined which would effectively see him being bought out by the insurer.

“The Petitioner averred that the Company has not made any effort to buy back its shares from the Petitioner and that by an announcement dated 25th October 2023, the Company stated that it had agreed with one of its shareholders to convert shareholders’ loans worth 48,183,511 USD and a further loan of 1,927,367,952 into Equity through the allotment of 1,754,572,079 preference shares of Kshs.5.00/=” reads court documents.

Kibe is the sixth largest shareholder in Old Mutual with approximately 1.5 million shares computed at a cost of KSh291 million.

The businessman wanted the insurer to be wound up in the event they were unable to buy him out at a premium.