The Nicholas Biwott family has sold the Nairobi Yaya Centre shopping complex to a consortium of investors for billions of shillings.
The Kilimani complex is one of Kenya’s oldest premium shopping malls and has been linked to former Cabinet Minister Nicholas Biwott, a billionaire politician and businessman.
Biwott died in July 2017, leaving behind prime real estate in Kenya and abroad.
The wealthy Rasik Kantaria family is one of the new Yaya Centre owners, expanding their investment in the hospitality industry.
The transaction was valued in billions of shillings, according to sources familiar with the transaction and publicly available information.
In 1997, the High Court granted H.Z. Engineering and Construction Company, owned by Biwott, ownership of the Yaya Centre after a court battle.
The sale of Yaya Centre marks a significant wealth distribution to the Biwott family heirs, who also liquidated the former minister’s shareholding in oil marketing company KenolKobil to French multinational Rubis in another multi-billion-shilling transaction.
The Kantarias, headed by family patriarch Rasik Kantaria, are best known for their ownership of Prime Bank, which serves a loyal niche of medium-sized to large enterprises.
The Yaya Centre acquisition, executed quietly from 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic, deepened their foray into the hospitality business.
The Kantarias also own the Capital Centre mall along Mombasa Road, a middle-class targeted shopping complex that houses more than 60 stores and restaurants. They also own the plush West End in Nairobi.
