An investor is set to acquire a 40 percent stake in Angata Sugar Mills, which is developing a milling factory in Moyoi in Transmara, Narok County, disclosures showed.
Sources privy to the deal said Savannah Crest (KE) Limited would pay about Sh500 million for the stake in Angata Sugar, with the transaction expected to conclude by December 2024.
Angata Sugar Mills Limited is currently owned by two different equity groups, Firethorn Holding Limited, and iCreate Investment Holding Limited.
The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has already approved the deal, saying it would not affect competition.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 42(1) of the Competition Act, the Competition Authority of Kenya excludes the proposed subscription of shares amounting to 40 percent of the total issued share capital of Angata Sugar Mills Limited by Savannah Crest (KE) Limited from the provisions of Part IV of the Act,” said director-general Adano Roba.
“The transaction meets the threshold for the exclusion provided under the Competition (General) Rules, 2019.”
Angata Sugar Mills is setting up a Sh4.35 billion ($33.8 million) sugar milling plant in Moyoi, Transmara, scheduled to commence production in September 2025.
A blueprint showed that the Angata factory and its auxiliaries’ plants or installations would be located on about 200 acres.
“Sugar production involves two distinct operations: processing sugar cane into raw sugar and processing the raw sugar into refined sugar,” said Angata in a disclosure.
Angata is among a host of investors lining up new factories in Kenya amid growing demand for the sweetener.
A review of the investment pipeline showed that more than Sh15 billion in fresh capital is marked for greenfield projects in the struggling sugar industry, as well as the expansion of some existing processing factories and sugar cane plantations.
The bulk of the greenfield sugar factory projects fall within Narok, Nandi, and Kericho counties, marking a noticeable shift from the traditional cane-growing zones in western Kenya such as Nyando, Mumias, Migori, Homa Bay, and Kakamega.
Transmara is also set to host a Sh1.5 billion Soit Sugar Factory within the Olomismis area.
Sugarcane being weight at Nzoia sugar company weigh bridge in Bungoma county
Photo credit: Isaac Wale| Nation Media Group
A blueprint showed that the Soit factory would have a milling capacity of 1,250 tonnes of cane per day (TCD), expandable to 2,500 TCD, and the potential to generate three megawatts of captive power.
In the operational phase of the project, Soit will produce milled brown sugar with bagasse and molasses as by-products. Other by-products will include filter mud and boiler ash.
Dilapidated and debt-worn public sugar millers have left Kenya reliant on imports because privately owned millers cannot cope with the rising demand for the commodity.
Kenya has over the years had a traditional annual deficit of about 200,000 metric tonnes of sugar, which has since widened due to rising consumer populations. It mainly relies on imports from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.
