M-KOPA, a fintech that sells asset-financing products across Africa, is under new pressure after co-founder Chad Larson asked Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA), which oversees market conduct and protects investors, to stop a share buyback he says shortchanges Kenyan staff.
Larson argues the offer is priced so low that it wipes out years of value built by local employees. In a letter, he says the process shifts control to major shareholder Sumitomo while leaving staff with little.
Larson also flags a fee paid to advisor Eden Global Partners, saying it further reduces what employees receive, and therefore wants the regulator to pause the deal, review the valuation and examine the role of Sumitomo’s board representative.
“The low valuation used, about a 95% discount to the true share price, is to the great benefit of Sumitomo Corporation in the first instance, and Eden Global Partners who is earning a large fee from arranging the buyback, deducted from the shareholders’ selling price,” Larson writes.
The letter claims that staff have been warned against discussing the offer among themselves, which Larson calls an attempt to isolate employees who may not fully understand the implications of selling their shares.
“The valuation appears to have been structured to justify a pre-determined, suppressed price, effectively depriving Kenyan employees and minority shareholders of fair compensation,” Larson said in the letter.
This comes weeks after a separate petition filed by a former Kenyan manager. That case claimed a 2019 restructuring created a two-track equity system that pushed Kenyan staff into a weaker class of shares, while foreign staff received stronger rights and better protections. M-KOPA rejected those claims and said its decisions were based on role and seniority.
Larson’s complaint shifts the fight from legal filings to the regulator. He says the buyback is priced far below the company’s real value and crafted to support a low offer, arguing the move raises questions about fairness, governance, and how local staff are treated in companies backed by global investors.
