After Nakumatt Holdings Limited went under in 2017, the man tasked with winding it up set out to make as much money from offloading the shell to ease the misery of hundreds of creditors owed at least Sh18 billion.
Recent court filings by Nakumatt’s administrator Peter Obondo Kahi have revealed how the corporate mortician received a Sh50 million loan — as part of Sh650 million bailout — from Tuskys in a failed revival bid, before selling assets worth Sh422 million to another rival retailer, Naivas.
Mr Kahi has asked the Milimani High Court to extend his term as Nakumatt liquidator to allow the conclusion of at least 16 court cases that may go the retailer’s way and rake in more billions.
The Sh5.1 billion revenue may, however, appear impressive for a dead company with few assets to its name.
Nakumatt collapsed while owing at least Sh18 billion to landlords, banks, suppliers and other institutions that helped it grow into the biggest retailer in East and Central Africa by revenue and branch presence.
A good number of those creditors are likely to go home empty-handed after decades of standing by Nakumatt’s business.
Reduce debt
Mr Kahi was appointed Nakumatt administrator in 2018. After months of push and pull between the retailer and its creditors, the court allowed Mr Kahi to wind up Nakumatt and salvage any funds that could be used to reduce its debt.
Read: Why supermarkets in Kenya are collapsing one-by-one like flies
Court filings indicate that one of Mr Kahi’s key objectives was to auction assets that Nakumatt had to its name and had neither been eyed by creditors nor had their ownership contested. These included furniture, computers, cabinets, shelves and a few other items.
Mr Kahi hired Tysons Limited to value these assets, and then engaged Dyer & Blair as the fallen retailer’s transaction advisers.As at October 17, 2019, Nakumatt had furniture, fittings and fixtures valued at Sh110 million. The assets, however, had a forced sale value of Sh77 million. They were spread across Nakumatt branches at Prestige, Lavington, Highridge and Mega in Nairobi. Other assets were in Nakuru and Kisumu.Dyer & Blair advertised for the sale of the shell that was Nakumatt on various dates between October and November, 2019.Read: Nakumatt collapses after creditors vote for liquidationTuskys, Chandarana, Quickmart and Naivas all threw in bids for different assets.Naivas and Chandarana were the only two firms that submitted bids to acquire all assets on […]