How it started
History
The company was established in November 1965, to promote a savings culture and home ownership among the citizens of newly independent Kenya. Major investors in the company included the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC), whose shareholding at one time was as high as 60%, and the Government of Kenya, which at one time owned 50% of the company. CDC has since divested from Housing Finance Limited and the Kenyan Government has substantially reduced its shareholding.
In 1992 Housing Finance Company of Kenya became listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange, where the stock of its holding company (Housing Finance Group of Kenya), trades under the symbol HFCK. The company adopted the shorter name of Housing Finance Limited, in 2002. In 2010, the Central Bank of Kenya, authorized HFL to issue and operate checking accounts; having been authorized to issue and operate savings accounts in the past.
On 30 June 2014, British-American Investments Company (the second largest shareholder in HFCK) at that time, served the Housing Finance's board with a takeover notice to acquire Equity Group Holdings Limited's 24.76 percentage shareholding in the mortgage financier. This move increased Britam's stake in HFCK to 46.08 percent. With the conclusion of that transaction, Equity Group Holdings Limited ended its seven-year investment in Housing Finance.
From Wikipedia’s article on Housing Finance Company of Kenya, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2