CIC Insurance of Kenya Advances to 4-Month High: Nairobi Mover

CIC Insurance Group Ltd. (CIC), Kenya’s second-biggest insurer by premiums, jumped to the highest in more than four months amid speculation investments in real estate will boost income.

The shares climbed 1.3 percent to 4 shillings by the close in the capital, Nairobi, the highest level since Sept. 10. About 144 percent of the three-month average volume of shares traded, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

CIC is in the process of acquiring 417 acres of land for 723 million shillings ($8.28 million) in Isinya, Kenya, as part of a plan to diversify, it said Jan. 10.

“We saw an increase in local investor interest after they announced the company intends to acquire some land,” Moses Waireri, a research analyst at Nairobi-based Genghis Capital, said in a phone interview today. “We believe that the outlook for the real estate sector in 2013 remains good.”

CIC shares have jumped 13 percent this year, outpacing the 10 percent advance on the Nairobi Securities Exchange All-Share Index. (NSEASI)

To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Ombok in Nairobi at eombok@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Shaji Mathew at shajimathew@bloomberg.net