Debt-distressed Mauritius-based property developer Grit Real Estate Income Group is set to sell all its investments, including Sh20 billion in assets in Kenya, among them the Buffalo Mall in Naivasha and Rosslyn Grove estate in Nairobi, which hosts the US Embassy staff.
Grit, whose lenders include South Africa’s Standard Bank Group, Absa Bank Kenya and NCBA Group, says it faces higher finance costs at a time when the value of its real estate assets has declined significantly.
The multinational, whose shares were suspended from trading on the London and Mauritius stock exchanges in May, is currently implementing a three-pronged approach to the asset disposals, including an exit from its subsidiary GREA, which holds the Rosslyn Grove estate.
‘The board has accepted a conditional binding offer for the disposal of the group’s interests in GREA and Africa Property Development Managers Limited (APDM), together with certain associated assets and liabilities … which involves the separation of GREA and APDM from the group,’ Grit said in a trading update.
‘Acceptance of the proposal represents a further stage in the process first disclosed in April, but definitive transaction agreements for the full terms of the development platform transaction and the required implementation arrangements remain to be completed. The expectation is that, once terms are agreed, completion will be subject to inter alia lender approvals, releases of existing security, regulatory and third-party approvals.’
Grit holds a 54.2 percent stake in GREA, with the rest owned by South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation (PIC). It was not immediately clear whether Grit is selling its interests in GREA to the South African fund or other parties.
GREA has real estate projects in multiple countries, including diplomatic housing similar to the Rosslyn estate.
The Mauritian firm in 2012 disclosed that the US government had signed an eight-year lease deal for the Nairobi property that would see it pay rent of $4.724 million (Sh534 million using the exchange rates at the time) in the first year.
This amounted to an annual rental yield of 9.7 percent – one of the highest in dollar terms – for the property located in Nairobi’s Rosslyn area that was built for Sh5.5 billion.
Most high-end residential houses in the city earn developers dollarised annual yields of between two and three percent and in shilling terms between five and six percent.
The US government took up all 90 units in the gated community, which has apartments and townhouses, a clubhouse with a gym and a swimming pool, among other amenities.
Absa Bank Kenya provided a loan of $35 million (Sh4.5 billion at current exchange rates), which was used to finance the development of Rosslyn Grove.
As a group, Kenyan banks nearly doubled their lending to Grit to $94.9 million (Sh12.3 billion) by the end of June 2025, up from $48.7 million (Sh6.3 billion) a year earlier.
They are among the lenders working closely with Grit as it unwinds its expansive real estate empire.
Like most real estate developers, Grit relied heavily on debt to fund its projects but has now come under pressure from rising global interest rates.
Most of its loans are denominated in US dollars, and their benchmark rates have risen sharply since the start of 2022.
Grit says it is also working to sell more properties beyond those housed under GREA and APDM, marking one of the largest real estate asset sales across Africa.
‘Separately, and further to the wider disposal and deleveraging programme referred to in the April announcement, the board and its advisers assessed potential options for the group’s other assets in close consultation with its lenders, taking into account the existing financing and security arrangements, the terms on which lender support may be maintained, transaction deliverability, timing and the potential implications for the company and its stakeholders,’ the multinational said.
‘As part of this exercise, the board commissioned an adviser to seek bids for an acquisition of the group’s other assets. Of the expressions of interest received, that offering the best terms has secured the support of the group’s senior secured creditors who have committed, subject to certain conditions, to continue to provide working capital to the group to enable it to close the transaction.’
The company’s investment properties in Kenya include Imperial Distribution Centre, a pharmaceutical warehouse, and Eneo Tatu City, an office and business process outsourcing development.
The multinational last updated the value of its income-producing real estate assets in Kenya at $158.2 million (Sh20.5 billion), accounting for 16 percent of its total portfolio of $989 million (Sh128.4 billion) as at June 2025.
The company previously disclosed its total debt at nearly half a billion dollars (Sh64.9 billion).
Grit says it will ultimately sell all its real estate assets, having earlier initiated some disposals during calmer times before the debt distress forced it into an expanded sales spree.
‘Between the current ordinary course disposals the company was already undertaking, the development platform transaction and the property portfolio transaction, the expectation is that the company will be disposing of all its real estate assets,’ the multinational said.
‘Accordingly, it will engage with the regulators and its shareholders as to the future of the company’s status as a publicly listed company.
The board remains advised by its legal and financial advisers as this process progresses.’
Grit says the exit from REA and APDM is particularly complex because the assets form part of a financing structure and, accordingly, implementation requires agreement with the relevant lenders on certain aspects.
The multinational noted that precise terms and timing of the transactions therefore remain under discussion.