The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has given a ray of hope to more than 3,000 workers of Karuturi Flowers after in approved its purchase by Shalimar Flowers Kenya Limited. Under a new proposal, the assets of Karuturi, which is currently under receivership, will be taken over by Shalimar unconditionally.
The farm’s financial woes deepened in 2014 after it was placed under receivership before the final nail in the coffin was hammered last year. This was after the Supreme Court gave Stanbic Bank the go-ahead to sell the assets to recover a loan of over Sh1.8 billion. In the case, Surya Holdings Ltd and THEA Holdings moved to court, arguing that they were denied the opportunity to challenge the contents of the audit report by Deloitte Consulting Limited.
However, a five-bench-judge ruled that there was no issue of a constitutional nature for the court to determine in the dispute.
But in a new development, CAK said that the proposed transaction involves the acquisition of Rhea Holdings Limited (Karuturi under receivership) land by Shalimar Flower farm. “The parties’ combined turnover for the preceding year was over Sh1 billion, and this meets the threshold for full merger analysis as provided in the Merger Threshold Guidelines,” said the authority in a statement.
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