Category: Business Daily

Financing land restoration and drought resilience took centre stage on Monday as ministers, development partners, investors, businesses and civil society gathered at the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) COP17 for Finance Day.

The discussions produced $1.3 billion in new and pipeline finance for land restoration and drought resilience across 23 countries. Of this, $644.5 million is new finance, with $216.4 million already confirmed and moving towards implementation.

For Africa, participants stressed that closing the financing gap must also mean changing how restoration investments are designed and who can access them.

She is also one of 35 experts on the UNCCD Science-Policy Interface, which is providing technological advice to the convention. Dr Chomba said women should be considered in the design of new financing mechanisms.

‘For restoration to be effective and inclusive, women must be beneficiaries of finance and have a voice in how investments are designed and implemented,’ she said.

The discussions also placed rangelands at the centre of the new investment push. The Rangelands Flagship Initiative, valued at $1.2 billion across 45 projects, was launched in Ulaanbaatar during the UN International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists in 2026. It is the largest single mobilisation for rangelands in the history of the UNCCD.

Rangelands cover more than half of the world’s land surface and support around two billion people. Yet up to half of these ecosystems are degraded or at risk. Rangelands generate estimated gains of $21 trillion to $47 trillion annually. Restoration returns $4 to $6 for every dollar invested, with returns reaching as high as $36 when wider public benefits are included.

For Kenya, the financing debate comes as the country confronts drought, degraded rangelands and declining land productivity.

Environment CS Deborah Barasa said restoration must be treated as an economic and development priority.

‘The challenge is no longer how to restore our landscapes. It is how to finance restoration at scale and sustain those investments for decades. We must use public finance to unlock private capital and make restoration a long-term investment in climate resilience, natural capital and sustainable development,’ she said.

The minister pointed to the Kenya Watershed Services Improvement Project as an effort to move from fragmented interventions towards a coordinated restoration.

The project combines policy reform, institutional strengthening, sustainable financing, watershed restoration, biodiversity conservation, livelihoods and digital monitoring.

The new commitments come as development banks and climate funds seek to make land restoration attractive to investors.

A dialogue involving the World Bank, African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Investment Bank, Islamic Development Bank, the Global Environment Facility and Green Climate Fund highlighted the need for guarantees, first-loss capital, index-based insurance and project preparation facilities.

COP17 President Batmunkh Battsetseg, who is also Mongolia’s Foreign Affairs Minister said: ‘Effective restoration of land must be grounded in the knowledge and experience of local communities and indigenous people.’

As Finance Day closed, the message was that success of the commitments would be measured by whether the money reaches the people and landscapes that need it.

The State alleged that the emergency shipment was overpriced, of substandard quality, and procured at rates significantly higher than those agreed under existing deals.

A confidential letter shows that the owners of MT Paloma, the ship carrying the fuel, arrived at the outer limits of the port of Mombasa on March 27 at 2:30am and requested clearance to enter the port’s precincts. It was denied entry as answers were sought from top officials on why they allowed importation of fuel outside the government-to-government arrangement inked with top Middle East firms.

Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) was under clear instructions not to allow MT Paloma to dock at the port and discharge its cargo at Kipevu.

This prompted the owners of MT Paloma to fire a terse legal warning to KPA, warning the State agency that it will be held directly responsible for the Sh11.8 billion cargo, documents tabled in the Senate following a probe on the condemned fuel show.

‘This is to inform you that we must hold you responsible for the following facts and all consequences arising thereof. Customs clearance was requested at the time of tendering notice of readiness at 02;30 hours local time on March 27, 2026,’ says the letter fired to KPA and signed by Captain Cosmin Sarla on behalf of MT Paloma.

‘Customary or not and through no fault of my vessel or her owners or her agents or her agents, customs clearance has not been granted promptly on arrival at the time of my tendering of notice of readiness.’

The vessel warned KRA it will escalate its protest letter to a multi-billion shilling legal battle.

‘On behalf of my principals, we reserve the right to extend or modify this protest at a future time and place,’ said the protest note seen by the Business Daily.

The ship was allowed to dock following high-level discussions that involved top civil servants, sources familiar with the matter said.

It docked at berth No.1 at the Kipevu Oil Terminal 11 (KOT 11) on March 27 at 8:42pm, revealing a 12-hour delay in response to the high-stakes fight in the high seas.

Upon arrival within the outer limits of the port of Mombasa, ships are issued with customs clearance and permission for their crew to discharge cargo at the port, in what is technically referred to as free pratique in the shipping industry.

Free pratique is official permission given by a port health authority for a ship, aircraft, or vehicle to enter a port, disembark people, and load or unload cargo after certifying it is free of contagious diseases.

Without it, a vessel faces quarantine restrictions.

MT Paloma completed discharging the 60,200.813 metric tonnes of petrol on March 30, 2026 at 12.12pm.

This triggered a series of coordinated police raids targeting the highest echelons of Kenya’s energy sector.

By dawn of April 3, three of the most powerful men in the country’s energy sector were in police custody as detectives raced to unravel what the officials termed the worst white-collar crime in the petroleum market.

They all subsequently resigned on April 4.

The three, including former Principal Secretary for Petroleum Mohamed Liban, former Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) CEO Joe Sang and former director-general of the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) Daniel Kiptoo, were released on cash bail after spending days in the police cells.

The government said the three were at the heart of a scheme that manipulated data used to justify the emergency importation of fuel, despite standing contracts with Saudi Aramco Trading Fujairah, Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC Global Trading Ltd, and Emirates National Oil Company Singapore Ltd., arguing that the firms were all ?meeting their contractual obligations.

Parliament has issued a 60-day ultimatum to the investigators to submit a report on the outcome of the probe of the three senior officials in the energy sector arrested in April.

At the time, a vessel carrying 85,000 metric tonnes of petrol belonging to Gulf Energies got stuck at the port of Jebel Ali in the wake of Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

One Petroleum and Oryx Energies were on March 25 awarded the contracts to ship in 81.3 million litres each of petrol in deals that would later trigger the fall-out and the resignations and arrests of the three top officials in the country’s energy sector.

Hass Petroleum and E3 Energy also placed tenders for the emergency stocks.

Importation of the emergency cargo was sanctioned by NSCC on March 9.

One Petroleum said that it secured the vessel within three days of the award of the deal from BP International, one of its trading partners. The cargo was originally destined for Angola.

But the consignment did not meet the Kenyan specifications on the oxygenate, manganese, Sulphur and benzene content in petrol, prompting One Petroleum to seek a waiver from the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum.

On April 4, Head of Public Service Felix Koskei said that data on fuel stocks had been falsified to trigger importation of emergency stocks, days after MT Paloma discharged the fuel into the network of KPC.

The State then directed One Petroleum to recall the product, a move that industry executives said was not feasible given that it had already been discharged into KPC’s system and mixed with other stocks.

One Petroleum said that it had not initiated litigation against the State for the botched deal despite incurring losses running into millions of dollars.

But Oryx threatened to sue, saying that the State breached contractual agreements, exposing it to significant financial losses and reputational damage.

Oryx wrote to the government on April 9, notifying it of the need to take the consignment as agreed failing which this would translate to a contractual breach and trigger lawsuits.

‘The company reserves all rights arising from the cancellation while remaining willing to engage constructively with the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum,’ Oryx said in documents tabled before the Senate.

Yet even as urbanisation drastically changes the landscape, it has refused to entirely shed the customs that predate the construction boom.

Along roads leading in sit small shops, hardware stores and rental houses. Further inside, newly built apartments and gated communities are emerging among older family homes and open stretches of land.

Students rent modest rooms while families buy four-bedroom houses priced tens of millions of shillings. Developers are putting up apartments as sellers divide former expanses of land into smaller plots.

‘Here, when we talk about gated communities, most of those units will have at least four bedrooms,’ says Linda Mokeira, chief executive of real estate agency Jalisa Limited.

For families seeking more space, developers chasing demand and students looking for cheap accommodation, Ole Kasasi has become an increasingly attractive destination.

Much of this transformation has happened in little more than two decades. For long-time residents and land sellers, however, the history of Ole Kasasi stretches much further back, to a time when the area was largely pastoral land known as Erangau, or Rangau, and the idea of a busy property market was still far off.

Today, the neighbourhood is drawing buyers who want the space and relative tranquillity that have become increasingly difficult to find in the capital.

One of the easiest ways into Ole Kasasi is from the Maasai Lodge stage, where tuk-tuks and taxis ferry residents and visitors into the neighbourhood.

About three kilometres in stands the Ole Kasasi Police Station, one of the area’s best-known landmarks. Around it, small shops, eateries, hardware stores and rental houses line the roads, reflecting the commercial activity that has accompanied the population increase.

For Teketi Kimunyak, a long-time land seller, the story of Ole Kasasi begins with one family and a large tract of land. ‘Originally, Ole Kasasi is tied to the person who owned a major part of the area, almost 1,000 acres,’ he says.

The land was eventually subdivided and sold, bringing in more settlers and gradually changing the character of the area.

In its early years, Ole Kasasi was largely residential and pastoral. The Maasai were the dominant community and commercial activity was limited.

‘People started settling because the place was peaceful, with a lot of fresh air,’ Mr Kimunyak says. ‘At that time most of the people were the Maasai and it was not yet a commercial place until the early 2000s.’

‘Gradually, the place started developing into a town with amenities like African Nazarene University, hospitals, and commercial developments. Rongai also started developing toward Ole Kasasi and the interior part of Kajiado East,’ he says.

Cheap land turns prime property

The transformation is perhaps most visible in land prices. Mr Kimunyak remembers when an acre could be bought for only a few hundred thousand shillings.

‘The land prices are increasing every day, because about 15 years ago you could find an acre for even Sh300,000 to Sh500,000,’ he says.

Today, the figures are measured in millions.

Ms Mokeira says an acre in prime sections can fetch as much as Sh30 million. ‘As you go into the interior, an acre will cost Sh16 million to Sh20 million,’ she says.

Ms Mokeira says an eighth of an acre of land aound Nazarene University all the way down to the Maasai Lodge can cost Sh3.5 million to Sh5 million.

The sharp rise reflects a fundamental change in what buyers are looking for. Ms Mokeira points out that Ole Kasasi offers something increasingly scarce in Nairobi: room to build a standalone home, maintain a compound and still remain within reach of the city.

‘Families want standalone houses, a compound, greenery and a quieter environment,’ she says.

Eager to capitalise on the market demand that is also driven by Kenyans living in the diaspora looking for property investments, developers are increasingly putting up gated communities and multi-unit developments, particularly around the university.

Ms Mokeira says the profile of the prospecive Ole Kasasi property buyer is a Nairobi residents who want to move away from congested neighborhoods without going too far from the capital, as well as.

‘They want to be in a developed area, but without being in squeezed spaces,’ Ms Mokeira says.

A market of two worlds

The university has added another layer to the property market. Student demand has supported the growth of hostels, bedsitters and smaller apartments, creating a steady rental market alongside the more expensive family housing.

The result is a neighbourhood where two very different property markets exist side by side.

A modern four-bedroom house in a gated community can sell for between Sh25 million and Sh35 million, Ms Mokeira says, while standalone homes can reach Sh50 million depending on the size of the compound and quality of construction.

And rents have risen alongside property values.

A one-bedroom unit can rent for between Sh10,000 and Sh25,000 a month, while modern two-bedroom units can exceed Sh35,000. Three-bedroom houses go for around Sh50,000, according to Ms Mokeira.

In gated communities, rents can reach Sh75,000 a month, with some landlords asking as much as Sh100,000 depending on the size of the house, finishes and amenities.

The construction boom has brought shops, hardware stores and other businesses, but it has also exposed gaps in infrastructure and planning.

‘There is a challenge with infrastructure and the sewer system; there is also no proper zoning,’ Ms Mokeira says. ‘You cannot easily say that this is a high rise zone, this is a maisonette zone, etc.’

For homeowners, the absence of clearly defined development patterns can create uncertainty about what may eventually be built next door and how new developments could affect the character and value of existing properties.

Water is another concern, with many residents relying on boreholes to supplement supply.

Yet the rapid construction has also created a local economy of its own.

At a hardware shop in Ole Kasasi, Barnabas Ruto serves a steady mix of homeowners and builders.

‘We sell finishing equipment like toilets, tiles, pipes, and cement. Our biggest clients are homeowners,’ he say, adding that tiles are among the fastest-moving products.

His business is one small example of how the property boom has spread beyond landowners and developers, creating demand for building materials, transport, labour and other services.

Keeping the connection

For all the new houses, roads and rising property prices, Ole Kasasi has not entirely lost its connection to the landscape that existed before the construction boom.

Mr Kimunyak remembers a time when wild animals were part of everyday life for Maasai residents.

‘Interestingly, in our culture, we believe you can only be attacked by a wild animal if you are cursed or there is something bad that you did that does not please God and man,’ he says.

Urbanisation has since pushed much of that wildlife away from the more populated sections.

The herds and remaining open spaces now share the landscape with construction sites, rental apartments and gated communities.

But as more land is subdivided and more houses rise, Ole Kasasi faces a question familiar to many of Nairobi’s expanding suburbs: how much of the character that made the area desirable can survive the development that is making it valuable?

For now, developers, traders, students, and homeowners are focused on getting the best they can from Ole Kasasi.

Regulatory filings indicate that nine firms increased or maintained dividends despite a fall in profits, while a further nine raised the shareholder payouts at a faster rate than earnings growth.

Absa Bank Kenya, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya (StanChart), BOC Kenya, Centum Investment Company and Kenya Power have raised dividends despite falling profits, while TPS Eastern Africa, CIC Insurance Group, Kenya Re and Liberty Kenya Holdings maintained payouts despite weaker earnings.

Analysts link the dividend payouts to pressure on management to reward investors, the maturity of some listed firms and fewer opportunities for aggressive expansion.

‘The general trend on the NSE over the past two years is that share prices have gone up, with investors moving away from fixed-income instruments and more into equities. There could be some pressure on management to ensure that they deliver returns commensurate with their share price,’ said Erick Musau, executive director for research and sustainable finance at Standard Investment Bank.

This points to companies placing greater emphasis on shareholder returns as they navigate weaker margins, subdued demand and high operating costs in corporate Kenya.

‘Dividend management also helps companies avoid shareholder discontent. If management fails to deliver value to shareholders, that is when they become vulnerable to removal. But when companies reward shareholders through dividends, they become less vulnerable to being replaced,’ said Mr Musau.

BOC Kenya is the latest to raise dividends faster than earnings, increasing its interim payout by 60 percent to Sh4 per share despite a 39.8 percent decline in net profit to Sh100.37 million for the half year ended June.

Absa and StanChart followed the trend, raising interim payouts despite lower half-year earnings.

Absa increased its dividend per share by 150 percent to Sh0.50 from Sh0.20 despite a 9.8 percent decline in net profit to Sh10.53 billion.

StanChart raised its interim payout by 6.3 percent to Sh8.50 despite a 16.8 percent decline in net earnings.

Absa Kenya, which is majority-owned by South Africa’s Absa Group, said it had adequate capital to support loan book and deposit growth without breaching regulatory capital requirements.

‘We have done what we call stress tests on our business, and we are comfortable with our capital levels. So with that, we say we can distribute more earnings. It is not that we are not ready for business. We are, and actually our book has picked up so much,’ said Yusuf Omari, interim CEO at Absa Kenya.

Mr Musau said firms with multinationals as anchor shareholders such as StanChart, BAT Kenya and East African Breweries PLC (EABL) also have an incentive to pay dividends because they provide a key avenue for the top owners to extract returns.

‘For many multinationals, the only way to get money out of the business is by declaring a dividend and, for that matter, as high as possible,’ he said.

The decisions suggest that dividend policy is increasingly being influenced by factors beyond the latest annual earnings figure, including companies’ desire to maintain a record of shareholder returns and confidence that weaker earnings may be temporary.

Read: NSE firms start paying juicy Sh75bn dividends

TotalEnergies Marketing Kenya increased its dividend 79.7 percent to Sh3.45 per share after profit rose 45.6 percent, while BAT Kenya raised its full-year dividend by 40 percent to Sh70 after profit increased 17.1 percent. EABL lifted its dividend by 59 percent to Sh12.70 after net profit rose 49.4 percent.

Kapchorua Tea increased its dividend per share to Sh30 from Sh25 after net profit rose 8.7 percent to Sh196.9 million in the year ended March 2026, taking the total payout to Sh469.4 million.

Williamson Tea returned to a net profit of Sh120.8 million from a Sh166.4 million loss and raised its dividend to Sh15 from Sh10, resulting in a total payout of Sh525.3 million.

Centum increased its dividend 2.5 times to Sh0.78, comprising Sh0.42 ordinary and Sh0.36 special payout, despite an 8.5 percent decline in net profit to Sh743.9 million for the year ended March 2026.

Mr Musau said firms such as Centum now have more room to increase dividends at a faster pace than profits as they emerge from a period of highly leveraged balance sheets. Centum completed a multi-year balance sheet restructuring that left the company debt-free.

‘Firms such as Centum have paid down a lot of their debts now. They are seeing they want to reward the shareholders after a period of drought,’ said Mr Musau.

Banks have added to the trend, with many growing dividends at a faster pace than their profits.

NCBA raised its full-year 2025 dividend by 29.1 percent to Sh7.10 per share, against seven percent profit growth to Sh23.4 billion. Its 2026 interim dividend rose 50 percent to Sh3.75 as first-half profit increased 12.2 percent.

KCB increased its dividend per share by 133 percent to Sh7 in 2025, partly reflecting the sale of National Bank of Kenya, against 11 percent profit growth to Sh68.4 billion. Its interim dividend rose 50 percent to Sh3 in the half year after profit grew 14.2 percent.

DTB and Co-operative Bank also raised dividends faster than profits in 2025, with payouts rising 28.6 percent and 66.7 percent against profit growth of 23 percent and 16.9 percent, respectively.

Other companies have opted to protect rather than increase dividends amid a decline in profits. For instance, TPS Eastern Africa, the operator of Serena Hotel, maintained its Sh0.35 payout despite a 40.2 percent profit decline to Sh787.2 million.

CIC Insurance held its dividend at Sh0.13 despite an 82 percent earnings collapse to Sh513.8 million, while Kenya Re maintained Sh0.15 after profit fell 11.6 percent to Sh3.92 billion. Liberty Kenya also retained its Sh0.50 payout despite a 65.3 percent profit decline to Sh487 million.

The High Court has ordered a fresh assessment of legal costs after a tribunal slapped Standard Chartered Bank Kenya with a Sh709 million bill for a case concerning underpaid pension benefits claimed by 629 former employees.

The court said the Retirement Benefits Appeals Tribunal failed to allow the bank to challenge how the costs were calculated before incorporating them into its June 18, 2025 decree.

The ruling does not disturb the pension award to the 629 former employees. It only removes the costs component and sends that issue back to the Tribunal for fresh determination.

The dispute stems from changes to the bank’s pension arrangements and has moved through the Retirement Benefits Authority, the Tribunal, the High Court, the Court of Appeal , and the Supreme Court.

The 629 former employees were members of Standard Chartered Kenya Pension Fund, established in 1975 as a defined-benefit scheme, or the staff retirement benefits scheme. They challenged reduced pension benefits after the scheme changed in 1999.

They alleged the bank used incorrect actuarial factors, excluded cost-of-living adjustments and housing allowances, and improperly transferred a pension surplus to the bank.

The Tribunal ruled in their favour on April 28, 2022, ordering recalculation and payment using the applicable 1999 rules, actuarial factors, allowances and future pension increases.

StanChart challenged that decision in the High Court but lost. The Court of Appeal later upheld the decision, while the Supreme Court struck out the bank’s appeal in September 2025.

The Tribunal issued a final order on May 22, 2025, followed by the June 18 decree incorporating the Sh709.1 million costs of litigation.

StanChart then filed the constitutional petition, arguing that the rules used in determining costs were invalid because a Legal Notice of 2000 appeared to be signed by former Finance Minister Chris Okemo, although the notice said the Chief Justice made the rules.

In its ruling, the court rejected that challenge, finding that the evidence did not prove the minister independently made or approved the rules. It upheld the validity of the 2000 rules and their costs schedule.

‘No party has placed before the court any affidavit, minute, or correspondence from the Office of the Chief Justice disowning authorship of the Rules,’ the court said.

However, the court ruled that the mismatch between the notice’s preamble and signature created ‘a real’ ambiguity and said it would be prudent for the Chief Justice, in consultation with the Retirement Benefits Authority, to re-promulgate or formally authenticate the rules.

It found that a section of the rules gave the Chief Justice a separate power to prescribe costs for Tribunal appeals.

But it found a procedural defect in how the Sh709.1 million was assessed.

It found that the former employees/pension scheme members computed the figure and included it in a draft decree. The bank could raise interest concerns, but not specifically about the costs computation, methodology or quantum.

The court said the Rules required costs to be quantified and certified through a process, rather than simply adopting a figure prepared by the party receiving the award.

‘Nothing on the record before the court suggests that any independent process occurred,’ the court said.

It held that the bank’s participation in the substantive pension case did not amount to a fair hearing on the later costs determination.

‘A costs award of this magnitude is plainly such a stage that the petitioners were entitled to test,’ the court said.

The court declared that the process breached the bank’s rights to fair administrative action and a fair hearing under the Constitution.

It set aside the decree only insofar as it certified the Sh709.1 million and ordered the Tribunal to reassess the amount under the existing rules after hearing the bank.

As required under Sections 7 and 9 of the Government Owned Enterprises Act (GOEA,2015), a GOE shall operate on commercial principals for profit, be self-financing and self-sustaining and with a defined income stream.

Effective, efficient and agile management of direct purchases shall be one of key enablers for the realisation of the above requirements.

However, the Public Procurement and Assets Disposal Act and its attendant regulations are largely intended for indirect purchase. They not suitable for direct purchases.

For such entities to sustain themselves in their respective and highly competitive business environments and enable their stakeholders make a commensurate return on their investment as required under Section 27(3) of the Act, there is need to develop enabling procurement regulations, specifically for their direct purchases.

A number of Government Owned Enterprises have long lamented how they have been losing huge business opportunities to their competitors on account of procurement operational impediments – and which their private sector counterparts are not subjected to.

In the official Guidelines on Management of State Corporations issued by the Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service in May 2024, it was reported that 33 of the 79 GOEs listed under Appendix II made losses in the previous three financial years.

Twenty four broke even over the same period. This means that only 22 GOEs made profit.

As a result, and for many years, such GOEs have been relying on the Exchequer for survival, which beats the purpose for their existence.

Application of fit-for-purpose and business conscious procurement regulations, policies and procedures for direct purchases would surely and greatly contribute in turning around their fortunes.

In view of the above realities, the National Treasury should consider enacting commercial procurement regulations for direct purchases in GOEs.

This is specifically allowable under Section 114A (2) (a and b) the above Law (Specially Permitted Procurement Procedures).

Such GOEs would then customise their respective institutional and policies and procedures manuals form such regulations for appropriate approval, based on the best practices in their respective business environments.

Kenya Reinsurance Corporation (Kenya Re) posted a 42.8 percent jump in net profit to Sh2.25 billion in the six months to June, lifted by stronger underwriting performance which offset a decline in investment income.

The reinsurer’s net earnings rose from Sh1.6 billion recorded in the same period last year as it benefited from growth in insurance revenue and improved risk selection.

Insurance revenue increased by 14 percent to Sh9.4 billion from Sh8.3 billion, reflecting growth in the corporation’s business during the period.

The biggest improvement was recorded in the insurance service, a key measure of underwriting performance, which more than quadrupled to Sh1.25 billion from Sh302.98 million a year earlier.

The increase in insurance service result points to an improvement in the profitability of Kenya Re’s core business, helping cushion the impact of a 3.2 percent fall in investment income to Sh2.62 billion from Sh2.71 billion during the period.

Kenya Re Group Managing Director, Hillary Wachinga, said the results show the quality of the corporation’s underwriting portfolio.

‘This reflects the quality of our underwriting portfolio, the strength of our regional operations and the dedication of employees,’ he said.

‘We remain focused on strengthening our market leadership, deepening regional diversification and positioning the corporation for long-term growth in an evolving insurance landscape.’

Kenya Re told shareholders during the AGM on June 19, 2026 that it had stepped up the fight against fraud through measures like checking detailed lists of policies and claims for treaties with loss ratios above 30 percent.

It also implemented stringent underwriting controls and treaty wording revisions like the sunset clause and limitations on commercial vehicles as well as riding on historical claims data and AI-based claims processing tools to guide renewals.

During the period under review, operating expenses increased by 22 percent to Sh800 million from Sh600 million.

The company is seeking to deepen its presence outside Kenya as part of a strategy to diversify sources of business and earnings.

Kenya Re has three wholly owned subsidiaries in Uganda, Zambia and Côte d’Ivoire, giving it a presence in East, southern and West Africa.

It has set aside Sh1.5 billion for setting up a subsidiary in Tanzania, a branch office in India’s Gujarat International Finance Tec (Gift) City and a liaison office in Rwanda.

The company’s improved first-half performance comes as insurers and reinsurers continue to navigate changing risk patterns and investment market conditions, increasing the importance of underwriting discipline in protecting earnings.

Kenya’s insurance industry has witnessed increased claims, which have cut underwriting profits of several companies that have published their half-year results.

There has also been pressure on investment earnings due to lower returns on asset classes such as government securities, which are the most popular investment among insurers.

The High Court upheld SBM’s right to enforce its security over The Alma in Ruaka, owned by Cytonn High Yield Solutions. This investment vehicle raised billions from investors for real-estate projects through special-purpose entities.

The court also protected buyers who will prove they had fully paid for their apartments before the bank registered its charge in August 2019.

The project sits on 4.67 acres of land, comprising nine blocks and 477 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. The project includes a commercial centre, swimming pool, gym, nursery, elevated playgrounds and more than 300 parking spaces.

The court’s ruling dealt a setback to more than 25,000 investors of the company and 110 homeowners who sought to join the liquidation case or stop the bank’s recovery efforts.

The legal dispute, currently ongoing at the Commercial Court in Nairobi, is part of Cytonn High Yield Solutions’ collapse, which was placed under liquidation in January 2023 after its administration failed to produce a rescue plan.

The Court of Appeal upheld the liquidation in November 2025, allowing the Official Receiver to preserve and realise assets linked to Cytonn High Yield Solutions for the benefit of creditors.

The Alma, valued at about Sh1.43 billion, was among the Cytonn properties preserved for the liquidation process. Others include Kilimani valued at Sh1.73 billion, Amara Ridge at Sh502.8 million, Superior Homes at Sh383.9 million, RiverRun at Sh535.9 million, Ridge, Athi River, CySuites, Taraji Heights, Applewood Miotoni and Mystic Plains/Newtown.

The court had said the properties were linked to funds invested by creditors, whose claims exceeded Sh11 billion, and ordered them preserved while the liquidation proceeded.

In the latest ruling, the High Court ruled that buyers who fully paid for their units before August 23, 2019, can have those apartments excluded from the property available for sale in the liquidation process.

‘I therefore hold that any homeowner who has proved full payment of the purchase price to the developer before August 23, 2019, to the required standard and places that evidence before SBM is entitled to have that unit excluded from the pool available for sale,’ the court said.

But buyers who purchased after the charge was registered face a different position. The court said the bank’s charge was then a public record, and buyers were required to conduct reasonable checks before paying the developer.

‘A purchaser who transacted after August 23, 2019 was buying land that was, by then, a matter of public record encumbered by a registered charge,’ the court said.

It stated that a buyer who failed to search the Lands Registry could not claim protection as an innocent purchaser. Units bought after the charge therefore remain available to SBM for sale to recover the outstanding debt.

‘These units purchased after August 23, 2019 remain available to SBM for sale in the exercise of its statutory power, to recover the sums outstanding under the defaulted facility.’

The ruling was a setback for Paul Opiyo, who sought to join the proceedings on behalf of 25,000 Cytonn High Yield Fund investors. The investors were said to have invested more than Sh300 million in developments affected by the preservation orders.

The court dismissed the joinder application after finding that the same question was already before the Court of Appeal.

Homeowners also failed to obtain protection because they did not prove that they had paid for their apartments. The court said sale agreements alone were insufficient evidence of payment. It held that a signed agreement alone could not establish their claim to a unit.

‘Where a homeowner produces a sale agreement, evidence of payments due under it including bank statements or receipts reflecting payment of the purchase price, that burden is, in my view, discharged,’ the court said.

It also dismissed applications by 121 homeowners and several individual buyers. Meanwhile, Cytonn Integrated Project LLP failed to overturn a consent between SBM Bank and the Official Receiver that gave effect to the lender’s secured recovery rights over The Alma, with the High Court adopting the agreement as a court order in November 2023.

The court held that the liquidator was entitled to enter the arrangement for creditors.

The insolvency process is still ongoing, with the Official Receiver pursuing creditors’ claims and the recovery of assets.

Corporates are increasingly financing operations from internally mobilised resources, reducing reliance on bank loans and other external funding avenues, a Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) survey has revealed.

Chief executives of private companies attribute their decision to ‘sticky’ lending rates despite a gradual reduction of the apex bank’s indicative rate.

According to the survey conducted last month, some 49.7 percent of respondents rely on internally-generated funds, up from 38.1 percent a year earlier.

This came as the number of companies whose executive heads indicated relying on bank loans decreased to 33.7 percent, from the 40.1 percent of respondents recorded in July 2025, signalling reduced dependence on commercial lenders.

The reduced appetite for bank loans among corporates came despite a sustained drop in lending rates on the back of an easing monetary policy, with a section of respondents in the CBK survey faulting lenders whom they say have failed to pass on the gains of cheaper credit to them.

‘Some respondents cited stickiness in commercial bank lending rates despite the easing of policy rates,’ the CBK notes in the report.

The average lending rate by commercial banks stood at 14.3 percent in July 2026, decreasing from 14.4 percent in June and 17.2 percent in November 2024.

The CBK cut its benchmark Central Bank Rate (CBR) to 8.75 percent in February this year and has maintained it at that level in successive monetary policy meetings, down from 13 percent at the start of the monetary easing cycle in August 2024.

The CBR cut was targeted at stimulating lending to the private sector, the regulator said.

The latest CBK survey further shows that companies’ reliance on private equity funding declined to 9.6 percent from 12.9 a year earlier, while reliance on new share issues and initial public offerings dropped to 1.1 from 2.7 percent.

The survey targeted CEOs across several sectors, including wholesale and retail trade (17 percent), professional services (15 percent), tourism, hotels and restaurants (13 percent) and financial services (12 percent).

Others were healthcare and pharmaceuticals (11 percent), agriculture (seven percent), manufacturing (seven percent), ICT and telecommunications (four percent), transport and storage (four percent) and real estate (four percent).

‘The majority of the respondents (76 percent) were domestically-owned private companies, while the rest were foreign-owned private firms (17 percent), publicly-listed domestic firms (one percent), publicly-listed foreign firms (three percent) and government-owned entities (one percent),’ the report added.

According to the survey, chief executives identify elevated energy prices, geopolitical tensions and global macro-economic volatility as the main threats to the growth and expansion of their companies over the 12 months to July 2027.

‘Respondents reported that these risks could raise production and operating costs, disrupt supply chains, weaken demand and contribute to inflationary pressures,’ reads the survey.

‘Nevertheless, firms intend to mitigate the constraining factors by improving cost and risk management, adopting technology, automation and innovations and diversifying operations.’

CBK data shows that lending to households and businesses by commercial banks hit a 28-month high in June.

The private sector lending performance in June and July 2026 marked the first double-digit growth since February 2024.

‘Growth in commercial banks’ lending to the private sector remained strong at 10.2 percent in July 2026 and 10.6 percent in June 2026 compared to a contraction of 2.9 percent in January 2025,’ the CBK said following a monetary policy meeting.

‘Growth in credit to key sectors of the economy, particularly trade, building and construction, agriculture and consumer durables, remained strong, reflecting improved demand for credit in line with the decline in lending interest rates.’

A Mauritius-based property firm that owns malls, luxury homes, and office blocks in Kenya valued over Sh20 billion remains suspended from the London Stock Exchange (LSE) following delays in publishing its financial results.

Grit Real Estate Income Group, which owns properties such as Naivasha’s Buffalo Mall and Rosslyn Grove that hosts US Embassy staff, was suspended from trading at the LSE and the Stock Exchange Mauritius (SEM) from May 1, for failing to file its financial statements.

The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said Grit had requested the suspension of trading of its shares to enable it to put its house in order.

‘Shareholders of the Company and the general public are referred to the communique released on 29 April 2026, regarding the company’s request for a temporary suspension of the listing of its ordinary shares, following a delay in the publication of its audited financial results for the 18-month period ended 31 December 2025,’ LSE said ahead of the suspension.

In its unaudited financial results for the year ending June 2025, Grit reported a loss of $65.42 million (Sh8.5 billion), reflecting the tough operating conditions.

‘In Kenya, the challenging economic environment impacted the operations of Orbit Products Africa Limited, resulting in a reduced space requirement and a renegotiation of rental terms at lower rates. Although the surrendered space has since been fully re-let, it was done so at lower market rentals,’ the company stated.

Grit also said it has faced costly loans in Kenya, ranging between 15 and 20 percent, constraining access to affordable finance, and delaying its development pipelines and lease commitments.

By June last year, Grit owed Absa Bank Kenya Sh4.5 billion, NCBA Bank Kenya (Sh3.9 billion), Stanbic Bank Kenya (Sh3.3 billion), and Sh503 million to the Housing Finance Corporation (HFC). All the loans by Kenyan lenders are in US dollars and total to $94.9 million.

The $35 million loan owed to Absa Bank Kenya was the biggest and issued to DH3 Kenya Ltd, the beneficial owner of Rosslyn Grove, a property with 90 diplomatic apartments housing US Embassy staff.

The property was completed in 2022 by Gateway Real Estate Africa (Grea), a subsidiary of Grit and US developer Verdant Ventures.

NCBA Bank Kenya’s $30.4 million loan was issued to Grit Services Ltd, a subsidiary of Grit Real Estate Income Group, through six facilities, and Stanbic Bank Kenya’s $25.7 million loan was issued to Gateway CCI Ltd, a subsidiary of the Group that owns Eneo at Tatu City.

Grit also tapped a $3.88 million loan from HFC under Buffalo Mall Ltd, the local corporate entity that operates the Naivasha-based shopping mall.

The mall was affected when the Covid-19 pandemic restricted movement. The exit of Tuskys Supermarket, the anchor tenant until late 2020, also affected footfall and tenancy levels, since its replacement, Chandarana Foodplus, took up less space when it entered the mall in late 2021.

Grit has invested in real estate across 11 African countries and targets retail properties such as malls and high-end offices to host blue-chip firms and business processing outsourcing (BPOs).

Sh20.87 billion portfolio

In Kenya, it owns the Buffalo Mall that was valued at Sh1.2 billion in June last year and is part of the owners of Rosslyn Grove, a property valued at Sh7.6 billion last year.

The company also owns Eneo at Tatu City- a property completed in 2024 and valued at about Sh6.2 billion ($48.3 million) in June last year. The property has a building with a space of 25,752 square metres and has 547 parking bays at the Tatu City special economic zone (SEZ), hosting BPO provider, CCI Global, as its anchor tenant.

Other properties fully owned by Grit include Orbit Complex in Westlands (Sh2.5 billion) and Imperial Distribution Centre along the Mombasa Road (Sh2 billion).

Real estate firm, Knight Frank, valued the properties in Kenya at $161.1 million (Sh20.87 billion), out of the total value of $806 million for all the investment properties Grit holds directly.

The company also owns properties in neighbouring Uganda, where it owns Metroplex Shopping Mall, and has Elevation Diplomatic Residences in Ethiopia.