KCB Group has started auctioning assets of former Spencon Kenya Limited directors to recover a Sh1.35 billion loan, drawing to a close years of legal disputes with the Moi-era construction powerhouse that collapsed.
Legacy Auctioneering Services, the firm overseeing the auction, has put up for sale three properties comprising developed and undeveloped land located in Nairobi’s Runda, Thigiri and Embakasi estates. The auction is set for November 25, 2025.
Spencon was founded in 1979 and rose over time, executing more than 200 infrastructure projects across eastern and southern Africa, before falling into administration in 2017 after years of financial trouble.
The assets on auction belong to former directors of Spencon who had guaranteed the firm a Sh871.27 million loan that grew to Sh1.35 billion. The construction firm, which was prominent during the reign of President Daniel Moi, defaulted on the loan and was placed under administration.
The default triggered a lawsuit in which KCB sought to auction the assets that the directors had used as security for the firm’s loan. The bank has now moved to auction the properties amid pushback from the directors.
US investment firm Emerging Capital Partners (ECP), which in 2006 and 2007 invested a total of $15 million in Spencon – including $1.5 million of British government aid money – attempted to rescue the company but failed.
Around 2015, ECP appointed two Britons, Andrew Ross and Steven Haswell, to lead the turnaround, but the rescue effort was unsuccessful, with the duo exiting amid suspicion that they had colluded to sink the firm further.
The Runda property to be auctioned by KCB is an undeveloped parcel measuring 0.9956 acres and is registered in the names of Raveen Prakash Sharma and Jatendra Chotabhai Patel – both shareholders and directors of Spencon.
The Thigiri assets comprise two vacant plots measuring 0.5668 and 0.4722 acres, respectively, held by Aviaspen Kenya Limited.
In Embakasi, the auction includes two parcels of 0.9884 acres each, hosting a plastic recycling plant and a go-down. The land is registered in the name of Rex Developers Limited. Ashutosh Sharma is the director of both Aviaspen and Rex.
Spencon defaulted on the loan, prompting KCB to issue statutory notices to the firm and its directors – who had guaranteed the facility – demanding repayment of Sh871.27 million.
The directors moved to court and secured orders restraining KCB from auctioning the properties used as security. They argued that, having exited the company, they should be discharged from the guarantees, since the properties were pledged in their personal capacity as third-party securities.
The directors lost the suit in October last year, with the court granting KCB the right to proceed with the sale of the properties. However, they obtained an injunction stopping the bank from enforcing the sale of movable assets.
In a related development, Rex Developers filed a fresh application for an injunction, seeking to block the auction of its properties. The judge directed both parties to submit further arguments by October 23, 2025.
However, since the interim injunction was not extended, KCB currently faces no legal barrier to exercising its power of sale.
The move by KCB marks the latest chapter in a long-running effort to recover loans from Spencon, whose decline left a complex web of legal and financial disputes.