French company acquires stake in Naivas Supermarket

Local retailer Naivas says it has signed a deal to sell a 30 per cent stake to French private equity fund, Amethis Finance.

Once approved by relevant regulatory the deal is expected to help Amethis gain a foothold in the country’s retail market as well as expand to the East African region.

The agreement is said to be worth billions of shillings even though Naivas Managing Director David Kimani was economical with details of the deal citing sensitivity of the matter before it is concluded.

The injection of additional capital to Naivas operations comes at a time when Carrefour and South Africa’s Shoprite have made forays into the Kenyan market with local players such as Quickmart and Tumaini supermarkets merged to consolidate capital for expansion as competition in the retail market gains momentum.

On its part, Naivas recently acquired 6 of Nakumatt’s stores in a deal worth 400 million shillings while Tuskys joined the Nairobi Securities Exchange Ibuka programme with the hope of listing on the bourse this year.

Investment in Naivas is the latest Amethis investment in Kenya after the fund invested in Ramco, KenAfric and defunct Chase Bank over the last ten years.